The Bears have seemingly been rebuffed in their pursuit of Robbie Gould, and they weren’t able to draft a kicker over the weekend.
That will not keep them from continuing their search for someone to replace Cody Parkey.
Via Patrick Finley of the Chicago Sun-Times, the Bears will have five kickers at their rookie minicamp this weekend.
The are signing San Diego State’s John Baron II, and four other kickers are reportedly going to be with them for tryouts.
That group includes Minnesota State-Mankato punter/kicker Casey Bednarski, Minnesota kicker Emmit Carpenter, McNeese State punter/kicker Alex Kjellsten, and Purdue kicker Spencer Evans.
‘‘’Thorough’ is the word I want to use,’’ General Manager Ryan Pace said of their search. ‘‘ ‘Thorough.’ Like looking under every stone and being thorough with this whole evaluation.’’
The Bears have three kickers you’ve never heard of on the roster at the moment (Chris Blewitt, Elliott Fry, and Redford Jones), after getting rid of Parkey following his double-doink playoff miss.
But as they keep looking under all these rocks, they may come to the realization that they’re not going to be able to upgrade from their previous kicker. Gould asked for a trade, but the 49ers said they weren’t going to move their franchise-tagged kicker to allow him to get closer to his Chicago home.