Today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
Carolina Panthers
Chicago Bears
Denver Broncos
New England Patriots
Seattle Seahawks
The Bears are expected to sign kicker Cairo Santos, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). Schefter’s ESPN colleague, Field Yates, had reported shortly beforehand that Chicago was bringing Santos in for a workout (Twitter link).
Santos signed with the Chiefs as a UDFA in 2014 and served as Kansas City’s kicker from 2014-16. He was largely successful during that time, never hitting less than 81.1% of his kicks and nailing a very strong 88.6% in 2016. But a groin injury derailed his career a bit, and KC waived him partway through the 2017 season. The Bears picked him up a few weeks later, but he appeared in just two games for Chicago before landing on IR.
Over the past two seasons, Santos has suited up for the Rams, Bucs, and Titans. He hooked on with Tennessee just before the start of the 2019 season to replace the injured Ryan Succop, but his stint in the Music City was disastrous. In his fifth game with the Titans, Santos missed four field goals in a 14-7 loss, and he was cut shortly thereafter.
The Bears appeared to stabilize their kicking situation with Eddy Pineiro in 2019. Pineiro won the job after an open casting call last offseason, and he ultimately connected on 23 of 28 field goal tries and 27 of 29 PATs. But as Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets, head coach Matt Nagy gave a non-answer yesterday when asked how Pineiro was doing in camp thus far. Apparently, Pineiro did not attempt a single field goal during the portions of practice that were open to the media this past week, so there is plenty of speculation that Santos may be more than just veteran competition.
The Vikings broke up their years-long receiver tandem of Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, shipping the latter to Buffalo for a package of picks. While the Vikings did not collect quite the haul they did for Percy Harvin seven years ago, Rick Spielman called it a business opportunity that benefited both Diggs and the Vikings (Twitter link via the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling). Spielman said he did not intend to trade Diggs when he last spoke at the Combine, but the Bills’ offer of a first-round pick and three Day 3 choices — including a 2021 fourth-rounder — was too enticing to pass up. The Bills also upped their offer from their previous one, which occurred before the 2019 deadline. The Vikings now hold the Nos. 22 and 25 overall picks in a receiver-loaded draft, and they now have a massive need at the position.
Here is the latest from the NFC North:
In addition to a potential quarterback controversy, the Bears once again find themselves with an untenable situation at kicker. Eddy Pineiro emerged from the team’s open casting call this offseason with the kicking job in hand, and he started off the 2019 campaign on the right foot. Through the first two games of the season, he was perfect on extra points and field goal attempts, including a 53-yard FG as time expired in the team’s 16-14 win over the Broncos in Week 2.
He has only missed one PAT out of 18 attempts, but he is struggling with field goals. He has missed four of his past seven FG tries, including two missed 48-yarders in the first quarter of Sunday night’s loss to the Rams. He didn’t have any FG attempts the prior two games, but in a Week 8 loss to the Chargers, he missed two tries, including a 41-yarder as time expired that would have won it for the Bears.
After the Chargers game, head coach Matt Nagy said he would not look to replace Pineiro, and Pineiro’s struggles on Sunday have not caused Nagy to waver. As Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune writes, Nagy said “no” four times when asked during his post-game presser if he would explore other options at kicker. However, he did express frustration that Pineiro has not helped an already slumping offense put up points when the team does manage to get into scoring position.
Pineiro has converted 12 of 17 field goals on the season, a 71% mark that ranks 31st among NFL kickers. All five of his misses have been under 50 yards.
The Bears‘ kicking woes continued Sunday when Eddy Pineiro missed a 41-yard field goal attempt as time expired in a 17-16 loss to the Chargers. Matt Nagy is not publicly wavering from Pineiro, though, according to Kevin Fishbain of The Athletic. Nagy said, “We love Eddy. We’ve got all the faith in the world in him.” Chicago, of course, has struggled to replace kicker Robbie Gould since the team let him go in 2015. Last postseason, the Bears were eliminated after then-kicker Cody Parkey missed a 43-yard field goal in a 16-15 loss to the Eagles. Nagy did not shy away from making the team’s kicker situation a front-and-center issue throughout the offseason. However, the second-year Chicago coach is sticking with Pineiro going forward.
Here’s more from around the NFC North:
The Bears have made a decision on their Week 1 kicker. The team is officially rolling with Eddy Pineiro, according to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network (Twitter link). “He deserves it,” head coach Matt Nagy said.
The Bears traded a 2021 seventh-round pick to the Raiders back in May for Pineiro, and now he’s won their competition. The Bears have cycled through kickers this offseason, leaving no stone unturned in their search to replace Cody Parkey. Parkey, of course, missed a last-second field goal in the Bears’ playoff loss to the Eagles last year that would’ve sent them on to the next round.
Pineiro beat out former AAF kicker Elliott Fry, among others, in the months-long battle. When Fry was waived a couple of weeks ago, it was reported that the Bears were still in the market for another kicker and it looked like they preferred an outside option to Pineiro, but they ultimately opted not to add anybody off the street or on waivers. Pineiro showed well in the preseason, nailing a 58-yarder, which clearly helped his cause. The Florida product signed with Oakland as an undrafted free agent last year, and spent his entire rookie season on injured reserve. He may have made the roster for now, but he’ll be on a short leash considering the intense scrutiny that any Bears kicker will be under.
The Bears have waived kicker Elliott Fry, the team announced. That leaves Eddy Pineiro as the only kicker on the roster at the moment.
However, Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune cautions that the decision to waive Fry, an AAF alumnus whom the the Bears signed in April, does not mean that Pineiro has won the team’s much-discussed kicking competition (Twitter link). Indeed, Biggs suggests that a to-be-released player from another organization is likely to open the season as the Bears’ kicker, and Ian Rapoport of NFL.com confirms (via Twitter) that Chicago remains in the market for kicking help.
The Bears’ kicking game issues in 2018, which ended in heartbreak in the wildcard round of the NFC playoffs, led the team to cast a wide net for answers. Chicago acquired Pineiro in a trade with the Raiders in May, and the club also signed Chris Blewitt, John Baron II, and Redford Jones since their playoff loss to the Eagles. All candidates but Pineiro have been waived.
Fry missed his only FG attempt in the team’s preseason loss to the Giants on Friday. Adam Jahns of The Athletic notes that both Fry and Pineiro have struggled with accuracy and consistency in spring practices and training camp, though Pineiro clearly has the stronger leg (Twitter link).
The Bears were reportedly interested in Kaare Vedvik, but he was traded to the division-rival Vikings last week.
Trading Khalil Mack wasn’t the Raiders’ only order of business Saturday. They’ve also moved their roster to 53 players by making the following transactions:
Waived:
Released:
Waived/injured:
Placed on injured reserve:
Placed on PUP list:
Even though he regressed a bit in 2017 after a stellar 2016 campaign, Derek Carr is entrenched as the Raiders’ starting quarterback for the foreseeable future, and Oakland is perfectly okay with that. However, the Raiders and new/old head coach Jon Gruden are not as pleased with their backup situation.
As Matt Kawahara of the San Francisco Chronicle writes, the battle to be Carr’s backup has no apparent winner, and Gruden did not dismiss the possibility that the team could bring in outside help. Connor Cook had a strong preseason debut this year, completing 11 of 19 attempts for 141 yards and a touchdown against the Lions, but his next two outings were not nearly as promising. EJ Manuel, meanwhile, lost his third fumble in three preseason games on Friday night, and he recovered another fumble after a bad snap.
When asked on Friday if the Raiders’ backup quarterback is currently on their roster, Gruden said, “I don’t know. We’re going to continue to work, continue to see who’s available. I thought there were some good moments tonight and there were some moments tonight that weren’t good. It’s been too inconsistent. But I’m not going to say much more tonight until I see the tape. We’re going to continue to evaluate it.”
At this point in the year, the list of free agent quarterbacks does not offer any clear upgrades over Cook or Manuel, with players like Matt Moore, Derek Anderson, and Mark Sanchez representing the best options (excluding Colin Kaepernick, of course). Teddy Bridgewater‘s name has come up in trade rumors, and while it’s not clear if the Jets are willing to part with him, other signal-callers — like Baltimore’s Robert Griffin III, who has enjoyed a strong preseason — could become available via trade.
Carr has suffered injuries in each of the past two seasons, so the No. 2 QB job is an important one to an Oakland team that has playoff aspirations. Manuel was adequate while filling in for Carr in 2017, though Kawahara writes that Cook received a large share of second-team reps in training camp this summer. The Raiders did trade for Christian Hackenberg back in May, but the Penn State product lasted less than a month on the team’s roster, and he is with the Eagles for the time being.
In other Raiders news, Scott Bair of NBCSports.com writes that, after a disastrous start to his NFL career — which saw him go unclaimed on waivers just one year after being selected in the third round of the draft — Shilique Calhoun is firmly in the mix to make Oakland’s roster. Bair also notes that rookie kicker Eddy Pineiro remains sidelined with a groin injury, and Gruden has not put a timetable on his return. The longer Pineiro remains shelved, the better veteran Mike Nugent‘s chances are to make the team.
While Jon Gruden‘s yet to bestow much praise upon Martavis Bryant, the Raiders’ other wide receiver trade acquisition has impressed the new coach. It’s looking like the former Cowboys draft choice will have a role in the passing game, and Ryan Switzer certainly will contribute on special teams. Switzer returned seven punts for touchdowns while at North Carolina, including five his freshman year. He returned a punt for a score last season as a rookie.
“He’s a guy that can change the game, I think, on third down. He’s a tough matchup,” Gruden said, via Vic Tafur of The Athletic (subscription required). “He’s quick. He has vertical speed. He has special teams ability. … I love Switzer. I think he’s one of the best punt returners of college football, perhaps the history of college football. He’s as good as I saw.”
Seth Roberts has served as the Raiders’ top slot option for the better part of the past three seasons for a team that hasn’t featured much depth at the position. Switzer, if nothing else, may supply that.
Here’s the latest out of Oakland.