Bears 2022 free agency primer: Who is available to bolster special teams?

Clubs rarely shop for special teamers other than return specialists, placekickers and punters in free agency and not only will 2022 be no exception, the options in those three areas are pretty thin this year.

There are no placekickers to get excited about and just a handful of good but not great punters. There are, however, a couple of special return men.

Top available players

Bryan Anger (punter): Anger, who spent last year in Dallas, is the prize of this group coming off the best of his 10 seasons in the league that featured his first Pro Bowl appearance and a whopping 48.4-yard gross average that tied for fourth best on the league. More importantly, his 44.6 net average was the best in the league, seeing only 25 of his 65 punts returned was solid, and the Cowboys appear prepared to let him move on.

Kevin Huber (punter): He’s solid with a big leg that produced a gross average of 46.4 yards last season in Cincinnati. He now has valuable playoff and Super Bowl experience. His 28 returns last season on 66 kicks is good if not great.

Thomas Morstead (punter): Morstead has been very good for a long time, spending his first 12 seasons in New Orleans before punting for both the Falcons and Jets last season. His age, 36, still is reasonable for a punter, and his 47.2-yard gross average last year on 45 punts was the third best of his career.

Jordan Berry (punter): Berry had the fourth-most punts in the league last year with 78. His 46.8-yard gross average showed plenty of leg strength, and 26 kicks downed inside the 20 with only three touchbacks was more than solid.

Greg Zuerlein (kicker): Zuerlein didn’t have his best season last year in Dallas.

Morgan Cox (long snapper): Many believe Cox is the best long snapper in the game right now, and although 36 years old, that’s the new 30 at his position.

Jakeem Grant (returner): Grant, who arrived in Chicago via in-season trade last season, hasn’t been a great receiving threat, but he can make plays out of the slot and in the jet sweep and bubble screen game. He’s been the best punt returner in the league since Tarik Cohen went down almost two full seasons ago now.

Byron Pringle (returner): Pringle is more of a true wideout at 6-foot-1, 201 pounds. He’s averaged 26.6 yards returning kickoffs over the past three seasons.

Under-the-radar values

Jon Weeks (long snapper): These guys toil in anonymity, but Weeks has been rock solid for the Texans without missing a game over the past 12 seasons.

Josh Harris (long snapper): Like Cox and Weeks, Harris is a top-10 snapper. He logged 10 straight seasons without missing a Falcons game, and he’s three years younger at 33.

Bears’ level of need

They’re set at placekicker with Cairo Santos. Khalil Herbert looks pretty good returning kickoffs, but punter Patrick O’Donnell, long snapper Patrick Scales and return specialist Grant are all free agents.

[ Shaw Local’s 2021 Bears report card: Special teams ]

Two of general manager Ryan Poles’ first signings were punter Ryan Winslow and long snapper Beau Brinkley.

Winslow is just a prospect who was with Arizona in 2019 for two games and punted six times. He made stops in Carolina, Arizona and Washington in 2021 for four games combined and a total of 16 punts.

It would be pretty surprising if the Bears didn’t bring in a vet to at least compete.

Brinkley is a tight end who has never done anything but snap in the NFL, but with nine seasons as the Titans’ snapper before logging three games at Arizona last year, he would appear to be the Bears’ new snapper.

Best fits for Bears

O’Donnell has been adequate for eight seasons but never really done anything special and is the club’s player rep. Nothing wrong with bringing him back over any of the available vets other than Anger, who would be an upgrade.

As the best guy available, re-signing Grant makes perfect sense.

They likely will at least shop punters before deciding. Other than that, special teams rarely are addressed anywhere other than placekicker and return specialists, and those guys can be found on Day 3 of the draft, too.