Chicago Bears Training Camp Preview: The Special Teams

We continue to preview the Chicago Bears as they head into training camp with a look at the special teams. How will the changes made affect the unit?

We continue our preview of the Chicago Bears training camp by looking at the special teams unit. As with the rest of the roster, the special teams underwent a change.

The Bears have had the pleasure of having some very good returners. They had arguably the best return man ever in Devin Hester. Over the past two seasons, though, they’ve also had Cordarrelle Patterson and Jakeem Grant.

The Bears allowed both of them to walk via free agency. However, they feel they have another returner who will make an impact. General manager Ryan Poles drafted Velus Jones Jr not only to be a wide receiver but also to be a return man.

As a kick returner in college, Jones had 2,973 yards on 122 returns for an average of 24.4 yards per return. He added two touchdowns. In his final season in college, he also returned 18 punts for 272 yards for an average of 15.1 yards per return.

The Bears might not ask Jones to be the main punt returner at the start. They have another rookie, Trestan Ebner, who has experience as a punt returner. Additionally, they have Khalil Herbert, who returned punts last season before injuries to the running backs unit forced him to concentrate there.

Long snapper Patrick Scales returns. He’s done his job well — he gets the snaps off and we never notice him. He plays a position in which players can stay for two decades and he’s only in his eighth season now so barring injury he should be a mainstay for a long time.

Cairo Santos returns as the placekicker. He’s been an excellent kicker for the Bears since he arrived in Chicago, connecting on 89.1 percent of his field goal attempts. While he doesn’t have a booming leg, connecting on just two kicks out of six attempts beyond 50 yards, he is deadly accurate from inside 50. In fact, he owns the franchise record for consecutive field goals made.

The Bears had a lot of trouble finding dependable kickers after they let go of Robbie Gould following the 2015 season. They feel they finally have their guy in Santos.

The big question mark on special teams is at punter. Poles did not make an offer to Pat O’Donnell and he bolted for the Green Bay Packers. They signed Ryan Winslow but released him after they drafted Trenton Gill. Instead of having a competition, Gill was handed the job. That is, barring a late move before the regular season starts.

Projections for the unit in 2022

Jones is a dynamic returner. He has amazing speed and uses it effectively in the open field. He has great vision and once he sees the openings he gets through them before anyone even notices. We will see some electric returns by Jones and he’ll generate a great deal of excitement.

Santos should continue to be his dependable self. He may have more opportunities to attempt field goals with the offense entering the opponent’s side of the field more than in the recent past. The offense won’t be humming right away so Santos gets more chances to put points on the board.

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The question mark will be the punter. Going into the season with a rookie punter is usually a risky situation. We don’t know how he’ll react once the games count. As I mentioned, the offense won’t be humming coming out of the gate. There will be times when the offense bogs down and the punter will have to flip the field or pin opponents deep in their territory. Can Gill do that? We will see.