With the Chicago Bears trade for Eddy Pineiro, don’t expect Ryan Pace to make a move for Robbie Gould.
Unless there is real smoke, this article represents the last of the Robbie Gould articles coming from Bear Goggles On.
We’ve covered the Robbie Gould drama in San Francisco, and why not? When was the last time you saw a kicker playing hardball with their front office? The answer is never. Gould was clearly trying to force his way out and get to the Midwest, preferably Chicago.
Was it extreme when we covered Robbie Gould selling his Chicago area home and building a new one? Sure, it was. That doesn’t change the fact that a huge contingent of Chicago Bears fans want Robbie Gould back in Chicago.
However, there is no point to continue to fan that flame. The Chicago Bears trading for Eddy Pineiro has put an end to that hope. Make no mistake about it, Pineiro wasn’t brought in to compete with Elliott Fry and Chris Blewitt, he’s expected to cruise to winning this competition.
While the trade is very low risk for the Bears, you don’t trade for someone who you think might be the guy, you trade for someone you expect to be the guy.
The Bears will have plenty of opportunities to make sure Pineiro is that guy, and if he isn’t, they can go another direction without losing the draft pick (conditions won’t be met), but you can bet your bottom dollar they expect him to be kicking in Chicago in September.
For Gould, perhaps someone like the Minnesota Vikings would be interested in him. Gould is in a tough spot. He’s trying to force his way out of San Francisco to get close to his family, but Niners GM John Lynch holds all the cards after slapping the franchise tag on Gould.
Gould could sit out the year, but is it worth walking way from $5 million to be close to your family for 5 extra months? Gould will probably sign the tag in late August and skip all of training camp and most of the preseason.
There’s no way that Lynch will slap a second tag on Gould and be forced to pay him $6 million next season. Gould will get his opportunity to play close to home in 2020. Who knows, perhaps Pineiro isn’t as good as Chicago hopes and there can be a reunion in 2020.
But with the trade of Pineiro, the idea of Robbie Gould kicking for the Bears in 2019 has slammed shut.