Guess Nagy was turned off by Bednarski's backflip, but if the kid can kick ...
I really hope that wasn't a factor. As you said, I'll take young confidence if he can kick. All reports said he had a strong weekend
almost feels like the competition was a show, all the rookies cut. and its back to the vet and the guy from afl. happened with pace and fox when they brougnt that one rookie in to "challenge" the vet, but never actually stood a shot.
I am liking Chris Blewitt so far. He has a strong leg. He sounds like a mentally tough kicker. He came back in that Clemson game after a miss and a blocked FG and kicked a 48 yard game winner with 6 seconds left. Gotta be tough to sport that name as a kicker :-)
LINK Redford Jones and John Baron II were both waived, and contracts were not offered to Spencer Evans, Casey Bendarski, Emmit Carpenter, or Justin Yoon, the four rookie kickers trying out this weekend.
That means that Chris Blewitt and Elliott Fry are the two kickers that impressed the Bears the most at Halas Hall, and for now those are the last two standing in the competition.
None of the beat reporters came away overly impressed with any of the kickers this weekend, although Evans and Bednarski both looked good today.
Nagy seems really pissed off and focused on getting the kicker woes fixed:
LINK special-teams coordinator Chris Tabor reminded players of the challenges awaiting them — if they were lucky — at Soldier Field.
‘‘There’s going to be wind,’’ Fry said. ‘‘The grass isn’t always going to be perfect. I think he said: ‘This is not an Augusta fairway.”
The Bears wanted to squeeze each kicker with game-like pressure. Many already knew the stakes. After leaving Pittsburgh as its all-time leading scorer in 2016, Blewitt worked at Home Depot for a year. He then moved home to the Washington, D.C., area to live with his parents, and used the money he saved to fly to kicking camps around the country.
‘‘I actually haven’t heard of anything like eight guys in a minicamp; that’s a little much,’’ said Blewitt, who was the only kicker in the Steelers’ rookie camp two years ago. ‘‘This whole situation, it was fun, though.’’
It was rooted in pain. When minicamp started, Nagy showed the team film of how the Bears’ 2018 season ended.
‘‘No elephant in the room,’’ Nagy said. ‘‘This is where we’re at. This is what happened last year. This is gone now. . . . So now if you’re a kicker and you’re in the room, you’re going to feel uncomfortable. If you’re a player or coach in the room, you’re going to feel uncomfortable. So let’s go test it out now.’’
LINK BEARS’ KICKER COMPETITION GETS OFF TO LAUGHABLE START
Head coach Matt Nagy brought in eight kickers for rookie camp to find Parkey’s replacement and immediately wanted to challenge them out of the gate. Instead, Chicago’s first session of the kicking competition got off to an ironic and laughable start.
No worries. Rumor has it that since the 8-kicker competition failed, the Bears are gonna invite 16 kickers to training camp. And since they failed the "Parkey Test" on field goals, they are just gonna do an extra point test at camp. I am confident one of the 16 will be able to kick an extra point (most of the time... can't get too crazy about this). Packers beware. Bears will (hope anyway) to have the kicker thing fixed this year :-)
No worries. Rumor has it that since the 8-kicker competition failed, the Bears are gonna invite 16 kickers to training camp. And since they failed the "Parkey Test" on field goals, they are just gonna do an extra point test at camp. I am confident one of the 16 will be able to kick an extra point (most of the time... can't get too crazy about this). Packers beware. Bears will (hope anyway) to have the kicker thing fixed this year :-)
The guy who can handle that greuling Lake Forest-Soldier Field "commute" wins the job. Kicking optional
Post by lklrlolnlilklsox on May 6, 2019 13:26:55 GMT -6
I'm guessing Jamie Kohl knows kicking talent pretty damn well and picked out the most ready guys mechanically and Nagy helped whittle the rest down mentally.
I still hope Bednarski gets an invite to come back, but the more I watch of Elliot Fry the more I like. Speaking of 43 yarders ...