Chicago Bears sign SDSU kicker John Baron II as UDFA

The Chicago Bears have signed former San Diego State University kicker John Baron II. He will get a shot to make the team in training camp.

The search for a permanent kicker continues as the Chicago Bears have signed John Baron II to an undrafted free agent contract. The Bears had previously been linked to Utah’s Matt Gay, but he was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the fifth round of the NFL Draft. The team already has three kickers on their roster, but might as well bring in as many as you can and give them all a look.

Baron was a three-year starter for the Aztecs and converted 83.3 percent of his field goals and 98.5 percent of his extra points. His career long field goal of 54 yards came in the win against Arizona State this past season. Baron has a big leg as he made a field goal of 50 yards or more five times in 2018.

He will join an already crowded Bears kicking squad as the team signed fellow undrafted guys in Redford Jones, Chris Blewitt, and Elliott Fry. The team has also been linked to former Bear, Robbie Gould, who had the franchise tag applied to him. He was in the process of negotiating a long-term deal with the team, but pulled him offers and requested a trade.

I am not saying a Gould reunion is not possible given the recent signings, but the Bears have invested a lot of money in the kicker position now with four guys signed. That does not even factor in the dead cap money from recently released kicker, Cody Parkey. It remains unlikely, but anything is possible I suppose.

The team also invited former Minnesota Golden Gopher kicker Emmit Carpenter to rookie minicamp. If he shows anything promising there, he’ll likely receive an invite to training camp.

I like to believe the Bears are done signing kickers and just let these guys compete for the starting gig, but I have seen crazier things happen. For now, John Baron II is the latest kicker to sign with the team.