When I reached out to my friends regarding the special teams units for the Bears, my questions were met with a resounding, “Really?” And the content that is about to follow will reflect that sentiment. I tried to ask pointed questions. I think I failed.
Cairo Santos can’t kick long field goals. Do you care? “Yes.” [No joke, this was the entirety of the response from TWO of the four!]
Do you think Jonathan Kim can take the kicking job this summer? “Is that where Kim ended up? I didn’t even know that. But that makes a lot of sense because Kim has a big leg. Might be worth watching, but I think I would be surprised if they moved on from Santos.”
What is the best stat we can use to evaluate punters? “You wouldn’t believe how detailed we get with our punt teams. Unless you’re tracking every punt, and what your particularly expectations are for every punt, you can’t properly evaluate the position. But, in general, a punt that puts the other guys inside their own 10 is never a bad thing. Always strange to that the public facing stat is inside 20.”
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Say something interesting about specials. “Kickers are becoming the NFL’s relief pitchers. You hold your breath when the guy shows up to camp and just hope he can still get the job done.”
