The Chicago Bears' kicker competition could be back on.
ESPN's Adam Schefter reported Saturday that Chicago is expected to sign former Kansas City Chief Cairo Santos pending him clearing COVID-19 testing protocols Sunday.
The move comes less than two weeks after the club waived Ramiz Ahmed to leave Eddy Pineiro as the only kicker on the roster.
The Bears haven't been able to land a consistent kicker since parting ways with Robbie Gould in 2016. In the four years that followed, Chicago has given opportunities to Connor Barth, Mike Nugent, Cody Parkey and most recently Pineiro, who connected on 23 of 28 field goals and 27 of 29 extra-point attempts in 2019.
Santos was even given a brief shot in 2017, appearing in two games while going 1-of-2 on field-goal attempts.
That familiarity may have given him an opportunity to return to Halas Hall, but he'll still need to win the job in order to get on the field. It's likely to be an uphill battle for the 28-year-old.
Santos hasn't connected on more than 80 percent of his field-goal attempts since 2016 and has struggled to find a full-time job over the following years.
He's successfully made just 68.8 percent of kicks since 2017 (22-of-32) but has missed just one extra point over that stretch. Particularly noteworthy is the fact that Santos' struggles begin only 30 yards out. He's made all five of his last attempts inside 29 yards but is 17-of-27 any further back, including 6-of-14 from 40 yards or more.
Santos will have to quickly show the Bears he's corrected those mistakes with Week 1 scheduled for September 13.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
