With the exception of former placekicker Cody Parkey’s 2018 campaign and infamous “double doink,” special teams coordinator Chris Tabor’s kicking and return games have been a strength of the Chicago Bears during the Matt Nagy era. That continued in 2020 other than a significant step backwards in the punt return game following Tarik Cohen’s ACL tear in Week 3 against Atlanta.
Ted Ginn Jr., Anthony Miller and street free agents Dwayne Harris and DeAndre Carter were all given a chance to fill Cohen’s shoes, and while only Ginn was awful, the Bears were reluctant to use Miller and none provided the threat Cohen does.
Cordarrelle Patterson was once again arguably the best and most dangerous special teamer in the league, and both placekicker Cairo Santos and punter Patrick O’Donnell had career seasons.
Kick coverage has been up and down the last few seasons. The Bears were strong on kickoffs in 2020 but weak against punt returns.
Who is on the roster in 2021?
This is tricky because special teams always have more turmoil and change than offense or defense from year-to-year due to being made up primarily of bottom half of the roster players that are constantly being churned.
That said, 2021 could be particularly tricky for the Bears. Cohen, Joel Iyiegbuniwe and Javon Wims are the only notable current contributors under contract and there is no guarantee Iyiegbuniwe and Wims will do enough to keep their backup linebacker and wide receiver spots and stay with the team.
Who are the pending free agents?
Patterson, O’Donnell, Santos, long snapper Patrick Scales, Sherrick McManis, Barkevious Mingo, J.P. Holtz and Demetrius Harris made up the heart of the Bears teams last season. All are free agents; although kicker Eddy Pineiro, who missed all of 2020, and Holtz are restricted.
Thoughts on the internal options in 2021?
Based on free agency, there may not be any internal options other than Cohen.
While the Bears would love to re-sign all their key guys, salary cap issues will make that difficult to impossible. The focus should be on Patterson and Santos.
As one of the greatest kickoff returners of all time and one of the NFL’s top gunners in coverage, if not the best right now, – plus the threats he creates for you on offense at both running back and receiver – Patterson has been one of the Bears MVPs the last two seasons. He’s just turning 30 in March and bringing him back should be a priority.
As volatile as placekickers can be, and with all the Bears tribulations at the position since the departure of Robbie Gould, it would be nuts not to return Santos, whose current streak of 27 consecutive made field goals has him 61% of the way to Adam Vinatieri’s all-time NFL record of 44.
Who is available in free agency?
Oldies but goodies Matt Prater and Stephen Gostkowski are out there, but neither is an upgrade over Santos or Pineiro right now. Zane Gonzales is the only youngster that might intrigue a team.
O’Donnell is arguably the best free agent punter available.
At long snapper, Morgan Cox may be the best in the game, but 35-year-old long snappers don’t move in free agency all that often.
Jamal Agnew, Andre Roberts, and Byron Pringle along with Green Bay’s Tavon Austin and Tyler Ervin are all nice kickoff returners, but none are in Patterson’s league.
Who is available in the draft?
Kentucky punter Max Duffy is the only punter or placekicker almost certain to get drafted rather than being a priority free agent. With all their other needs, it’s highly unlikely the Bears will be drafting punters or kickers this year.
What’s your best guess?
With so much focus on the tackle, quarterback and wide receiver positions – and QB and OT doing nothing to benefit special teams – this is impossible to predict.
The Bears have to know the benefits of retaining Patterson, but his versatility makes him the most expensive special teamer in the league and the cap issues are real.
Best guess is they will do all they can to re-sign him, Santos and O’Donnell, and then piece together the rest after they’ve addressed other needs.
Patterson will be one of the most interesting free agents in the league to watch since there are certain to be a number of teams kicking his tires and his price tag could get interesting.