Top free agents Chicago Bears should target after NFL Combine

Kickers

As the 2018 season progressed, more and more people felt the Chicago Bears were Super Bowl contenders. They were one of the hottest teams heading into the playoffs. Their kicking game prevented them from fulfilling those expectations. Parkey kept hitting upright after upright until the last kick cost the team a playoff victory.

After that doomed kick, Parkey decided to go on television and talk about what happened. That did not go over well with either Pace or Nagy. He had a chance of coming back (I mean, he hit, what, six uprights? Could that happen again?), but once he went on the air, the writing was on the wall.

Last week, news leaked that the Bears would cut Parkey when the new year begins, even though it’ll cost the Bears some money ($1,125,000 in cap space and $5.2 million in dead money), they decided they could no longer have him kicking in Chicago anymore. So now the Bears are again looking for a kicker. They had thoughts about a Robbie Gould reunion, but the San Francisco 49ers franchised him, so that’s a no-go.

Here are some options to think about:

Jason Myers — Myers was an undrafted free agent in 2013. He went to the Arena Football League and then signed with the Jacksonville Jaguars in 2015. He kicked for them until 2017, when he made just 11 of his 15 field goal attempts in six games before getting cut. He played for the New York Jets in 2018 and had a Pro Bowl season, converting 33 of his 36 attempts and 30 of his 33 extra point attempts. He’s made 97 of his 115 field goal attempts in his career.

Sebastian Janikowski — Janikowksi has been in the league for 18 seasons and is still kicking well. He has a career field goal percentage of 80.4 percent and completed 81.5 percent of his field goal attempts in Seattle in 2018. He’s made some big kicks and can kick from a long way. His career long is 63 yards and hit from 56 in 2018.

The question is whether he’ll come back for his 19th season. He pulled a hamstring in a playoff game against the Dallas Cowboys attempting a long field goal and missed the rest of the game. The Seahawks lost the game, 24-22.

Stephen Gostkowski — This would be the signing to make if the Chicago Bears want to make a big splash and nail the kicker spot. Gostkowski is the most accomplished kicker on the market and he’d be the best choice to make of anyone not named Robbie Gould. Some felt Gostkowski could stay with the New England Patriots, but they won’t pay much to keep him, so he could be available.

In 2018, Gostkowski converted 27 of his 32 field goal attempts and made 49 of his 50 extra point attempts. In the playoffs, he made 39 of his 44 field goal attempts and 88 of 92 extra point attempts. This is where the Bears really need help as we saw in this year’s playoff game.