Chicago Bears free agency: Another year with Connor Barth
While the Chicago Bears felt Robbie Gould wasn’t good enough, they got the same results with Connor Barth. Apparently, that was fine by them as they resigned him for another season.
Before the 2016 season, the Chicago Bears felt they needed a change in their kicking game. They had Robbie Gould, one of the best kickers in franchise history (don’t worry Kevin Butler, you’re still our number one, lol). He struggled down the stretch, however, missing a few kicks that turned possible victories into defeats.
The Bears cut Gould in the final round of cuts before the regular season started. He stayed unemployed until the New York GIants came calling before Week 7.
In his place, the Bears signed Connor Barth, a journeyman kicker (really, aren’t all kickers journeymen?) who played for three teams in his seven previous seasons.
For the 2016 season, Barth converted 78.3 percent of his kicks (18-for-23). Gould converted all his field goal attempts (including the playoffs), but he only had a total of 12 attempts. To analyze how the move went, you need to see how bad Gould’s season was in 2015.
More from Da Windy City
- Juan Soto appears headed to the Yankees which is not a big blow Chicago Cubs offseason
- 3 takeaways from Chicago Blackhawks shootout loss to Nashville
- Chicago Cubs in the middle of chaos that is Shohei Ohtani’s free agency
- The Chicago Cubs are on a roller coaster of emotions chasing Shohei Ohtani
- Chicago Bears quietly compiling list of head coaching candidates
In looking at his season, Gould converted 84.6 percent of his kicks (33-for-39). That isn’t far off from his career 85.4 percentage rate. Going down to Barth’s 78 percent doesn’t seem like an improvement.
Well, I guess the Chicago Bears felt it was. They decided they want more of Barth. They re-signed him to a one-year contract. As a comparison, Gould signed with the San Francisco 49ers for two years at $1 million guaranteed. Barth got a guarantee of $155,000
Frankly, I don’t see why the Bears stayed with Barth. Maybe it’s just pure stubbornness to refuse to accept that replacing Gould with him was a mistake. There are some pretty good kickers coming up in this draft. Jake Elliott and Zane Gonzalez top that list. Elliott is especially noteworthy because he is an Illinois native and worked with Gould.
Next: Bears targeting defensive lineman in draft?
Of course, with the low guarantee, the Bears could always just cut Barth and only lose out on $155,000. I just don’t see why they couldn’t wait until after the draft to see if they pick one up or not. It’s not like there is a huge line forming for Barth’s services.