Chicago Bears: 3 takeaways from rookie minicamp
By Ryan Sikes
The Chicago Bears invited eight kickers to rookie minicamp and made them all attempt the same Cody Parkey 43-yard field goal.
In addition to having Jones, Blewitt and Fry already on the roster, the Chicago Bears signed Spencer Evans (Purdue), Justin Yoon (Notre Dame), John Baron II (SDSU), Casey Bednarski (Minnesota State), and Emmit Carpenter (Minnesota).
On Friday, Matt Nagy had all the kickers line up for the same 43 yard field goal that Cody Parkey missed in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs. The group went 2-for-8 with only Baron and Evans making the attempt. Nagy had the veteran players line up along midfield with the goal to apply a bit of pressure:
The #Bears’ Cody Parkey-distance, everybody-watching FG idea delivered exactly what they wanted: unique pressure. Other than some chatty reporters, the entire field was quiet. When John Baron made it, some players applauded. They should continue it. Helps snappers, holders too.
— Adam Jahns (@adamjahns) May 4, 2019
On Saturday, the group went 6-for-8 with Baron and Jones missing the attempt. I was listening to 670 The Score and they had said that Jones hit the left upright on Friday’s attempt.
It’s not exactly a reassuring feeling when Jones is the first guy signed as a potential replacement for Parkey and he misses both pressure kicks at the end of each practice. There was a lot of buzz on social media about Spencer Evans and John Baron II. Several reporters had indicated they looked like the best of the bunch.
Evans is a really intriguing prospect to me and, quite honestly, one I did not expect to be competing for the open kicker position. He was a two-year starter at Purdue after transferring from Baylor and converted 74.3 percent of his field goals (long of 49) and 93.5 percent of his extra points.
Related Story. Rookie Camp Day 1 features atrocious kicking. light
We’ve already discussed Baron but there is a lot to like about him. He fits the profile of what Ryan Pace is looking for in a kicker as he made a field goal of 50 yards or longer five times last season. It will be interesting to see what happens, if anything, between now and when training camp opens.