Dave Toub is the best special teams coordinator in the NFL. He’s proven that over a long period of time. He’s also the best the Chicago Bears have ever had. Losing him in 2013 is something they still haven’t gotten over. Their third phase hasn’t been anywhere near as effective as it was after he left. This is reflected especially in the kicking department.
Since Robbie Gould, whom Toub scooped up in 2005, left in 2016 the position has been bedeviled by inconsistency and outright awfulness. Connor Barth was ineffective for two seasons and then Cody Parkey, their prized free agent signing in 2018, missed 11 kicks including the possible game-winner in the playoffs against Philadelphia.
This along with his ill-advised appearance on The Today Show shortly after the loss has led to his release by the team. Now GM Ryan Pace will be looking for a new kicker for the third time in four years. Is there any way to break the cycle of terrible? As it turns out, Toub himself offered some public advice on that very subject.
Dave Toub advises against Chicago Bears or any other team drafting kickers
Toub actually told Kevin Seifert of ESPN back in January about his personal process towards evaluating good kickers. Something he’s had a lot of success at for years. His comments were thoughtful and paint a clear picture of how the Bears could likely play it out this offseason.
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“Personality is important to me there. It’s such a head game. You see guys that have confidence in college, then all of a sudden, they get to the NFL and, boom, they lose it. You’ve got to try to sift through it.
I’ve never been big on drafting a kicker or punter. Every kicker or punter I’ve had have always been free agents, guys that came up the hard way, guys that have had to fight their way, earned their way. Those are the kinds of guys I want.”
Toub has been a special teams coordinator since 2004. In that time he has sought out and acquired three different kickers for his teams. They were Robbie Gould, Cairo Santos, and Harrison Butker. All of them were undrafted free agents. In their NFL careers, they’ve connected on combined 524-of-602 field goals. That is an accuracy rate of 86.18%, which is outstanding. Parkey and Barth hit 52-of-69 at a 75.36% rate.
So yeah. Toub seems to know exactly what he’s talking about. Based on comments made by GM Ryan Pace at the combine, it appears the Bears may take his advice and follow that approach in April.
