Bears Turn Up The Heat on Eddy Pineiro Ahead of Camp

The Chicago Bears have made one thing clear this offseason. Nobody is safe. Leonard Floyd was sent packing after four seasons despite depth concerns at outside linebacker. Nick Foles was brought in to push Mitch Trubisky. Even Trey Burton, despite some protection from his contract, was cut. GM Ryan Pace seems intent on ramping up the competition everywhere across the roster and that includes kicker. Whether Eddy Pineiro likes it or not.

The first-year Bears kicker had some rough stretches in 2019. At one point between the end of October and November 24th, he missed six of 18 kicking attempts. This led many to believe his odds of surviving another year were remote. Luckily he rebounded to connect on all 18 of his remaining kicks down the stretch, encouraging the team enough to give him more time.

That said, it appears they're not going to make it easy on him. Word arrived that the Bears reached an agreement with free agent Ramiz Ahmed on a one-year deal. He will compete with Pineiro going into training camp.

Eddy Pineiro has the leg up but can't get comfortable

Ahmed is a bit of an unknown at this point. He started only one season of college football at Nevada, going 40-of-45 on extra points and 15-of-20 on field goals in 2018. He failed to land an NFL gig last year so reportedly spent that time working with kicking coaches. This led to a tryout opportunity with the Bears. Clearly he made a strong enough impression to secure a roster spot for the summer.

That being said, it's hard to take him seriously as a legitimate threat to Pineiro. It would take a massive regression on from the Bears kicker to envision a scenario where Ahmed actually threatens to take his job. Pineiro is the heavy favorite stay in place this coming season. The Bears clearly just want to remind him that they're watching and he has no right to get complacent after one fairly average season.