Bears' special teams fueled by competition and change under Hightower

Ariana Pensy - Correspondent - 7 hours ago

CHICAGO - Special teams coordinator Richard Hightower is one of the longest tenured coaches on Chicago’s coaching staff as he is starting his fourth season this year. Hightower has been a proponent of increasing the importance of special teams, including being highly influential in getting the dynamic kickoff implemented.

Last season was the first year of the dynamic kickoff. It has now been made a permanent part of the game. Finding a returner is incredibly important with his new kickoff. However, DeAndre Carter, who served as Chicago’s kick and punt returner last season, is no longer with the Bears. Thus, like last season, the Bears will have a competition for the starting kick returner and punt returner.

One person who has come up in this conversation is Chicago’s No. 39 overall selection, wide receiver Luther Burden III.

“I see it as an ongoing competition like we’ve always (had) at the returner spot. So, (Burden) will be a candidate and (anybody) who has a helmet on game day has a chance to return,” Hightower said. “So, they’ll all be options back there and our job is to get them trained (because) we never know (who) will be available to us. So, we’ll get them coached up and teach all of them and they’ll have a shot to go compete and we’ll see who wins it.”

There also may be some competition at kicker. Kicker Cairo Santos had the play of the season when he kicked a 51-yard field goal on the final play of the game to defeat the Green Bay Packers in Lambeau Field, marking the first time since Thanksgiving of 2015 Chicago beat the Packers in Green Bay.

Chicago may not have drafted a kicker. But, among their 10 undrafted free agent signees is kicker Jonathan Kim out of Michigan State. Kim played college football for six years - the first four with North Carolina and final two with Michigan State. The Spartans gave Kim the opportunity to show his leg strength. During his two seasons with Michigan State, Kim made 32 of his 39 field goal attempts although only two of those misses occurred in his final season.

His longest field goal during college was 58 yards.

“When you look at (kicker Jonathan) Kim, he’s a rookie, but he has good experience. So, he has six years of collegiate kicking and some of those years are in inclement weather conditions. So, when you have a rookie kicker that’s somewhat experienced, so know the nature of that position,” Hightower said. “A lot of times those guys don’t make it because they bounce around because they don’t have the maturity level. What I see with this kid is a really mature kid that already has a routine, that already has a plan. Some of those three- and four-year guys that you get coming out don’t have that. So, he has a little bit of experience which you’re able to see on the practice field. Obviously, really strong leg and we think he has a chance to kick in this league. But, we’ll see if he makes the most of his opportunity.”

In addition to signing Kim, the Bears also signed long snapper Luke Elkin. Elkin was the starting long snapper for four seasons at the University of Iowa. Thus, he worked with Chicago’s current punter, Tory Taylor, for multiple years in college.

After Chicago’s shortage of long snappers last season with tight end Cole Kmet having to serve as the emergency long snapper during the Bears’ win against the Jacksonville Jaguars, looking for another long snapper seems like a smart move.

“We spent (some) time with Luke. Really like him. He snaps a really accurate ball, both long and short snaps. Sometimes what some people don’t know just because maybe they don’t do it - sometimes you get a really good guy that can short snap, but he can’t long snap for punts or he’s really good at punts and protection and he’s not good on field goals, which doesn’t help the kicker,” Hightower said. “This kid has a chance to be good at both and he still has some areas that we need to work on, like with all rookies, and he’s aware of that stuff that he needs to work on to have an opportunity to have a chance to compete. So, we’ll see what he’s got.”

Taylor had a strong rookie season as he was second in the NFL in punts (82) and punt yards (3,911). He averaged 47.7 yards per punt and pinned over 40 percent of his punts inside of the 20 yard line.

Despite that, Taylor is not satisfied with his performance last season nor is Santos.

“He has some things that he wants to reach this year that he’s got a chip on his shoulder and (punter) Tory (Taylor) as well … They’re both still irritated that they didn’t finish as best as we could in terms of things that they can get better at and in terms of more kicks, more punts, more things that can help the team win,” Hightower said. “So, they’re irritated they didn’t play, even though they played good by some people’s standards, we’re chasing greatness. So, I like that about them and then (long snapper) Scott (Daly’s) fitting in well. Scott’s doing a good job. So, I’m excited about having all three of those guys back and excited about the young guys we got in. So, good competition brings the best out in all of us.”