Chicago Bears 2017 mock draft: Latest seven-round draft

Round 7, #224: Zane Gonzalez, K, Arizona State (6-foot-0, 201 pounds)

The Chicago Bears released Robbie Gould before the start of the 2016 season. He started missing field goals he normally made, so the team felt his better days were behind him. After his subpar performance with the New York Giants, they were right. The only problem was that his replacement, Connor Barth, had pretty much the same stats, so he wasn’t an upgrade.

In light of that, the Bears need a new kicker in 2017. Instead of recycling the same old kickers, they should go out and draft new blood.

Gonzalez had 96 career field goals, the most in FBS history. He made 83 percent of his field goal attempts. In 2016, he connected on 23-of-25 attempts, including 7-of-9 from beyond 50 yards and 6-of-6 from between 40 and 50 yards. In his last two seasons, his touchback rate on his kickoffs was 75 percent (126-of-167).

Gonzalez worked on his lower body strength well. He booms his kicks, and he gets good trajectory on them.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers raised a few eyebrows when they drafted Roberto Aguayo in the second round. He struggled in his rookie season, so that makes teams think twice about drafting a kicker. Drafting one in the seventh round gives a team some value, as most position players drafted in that round usually find their way out of football quickly.

Next: Cuts Bears could make to increase cap space

The Chicago Bears lost more than a few games because of missed kicks over the past two seasons. They need to shore up the kicker spot so they feel comfortable using him in pressure situations. Gonzalez can earn that confidence.