JP Richardson emerging as special teams sleeper in Bears camp |
Ariana Pensy
· · 3 hours ago
CHICAGO - Special teams is often the forgotten phase of football.
However, according to special teams coordinator Richard Hightower, head coach Ben Johnson has given special teams the attention it deserves. “He’s heavily involved. He’s in meetings (a) lot, and he’s at every drill during special teams, watching each and every drill, which is impressive. I’ve been on a number of different staffs. I can’t say every staff I’ve been on all head coaches, they don’t do that,” Hightower said. “He intuitively understands the value of field positioning and of changing games, and he understands how important it is to us for a football team, and he understands how important it is to the city of Chicago. So, he’s been phenomenal with that.” Going into training camp, there has been a lot of talk about competition throughout the team. This applies to special teams as well. During camp, there is a competition for the starting kicker position between Cairo Santos and rookie Jonathan Kim. Kim and Santos are very different kickers. Santos is an experienced veteran who is going into his twelfth season in the NFL and seventh season with the Bears. His career field goal percentage is 85.5 percent, although he has historically struggled beyond 40 yards. Anything beyond 55 is out of the question with Santos as he does not have the power for that. On the other hand, Kim spent six seasons in college and finished with a career field goal percentage of 80 percent. However, he has a stronger leg with his career-long being 58 yards, although he probably has the power to make a kick longer than that. Thus, it is a battle between accuracy and power. Hightower seems to put more focus on accuracy, which should give Santos the edge. “I think the number one thing with kickers is accuracy, especially, you want to be accurate as you can be under 55 plus. You like to be accurate as you can be and then if you got the long leg, it’s great,” Hightower said. “If you got 55 plus and you can hit those, depends on what area of the country you’re kicking in. But, those are definitely valuable if you can (have) one that can do that. But, he’s got to be accurate.” Once again, there is also a competition at punt returner. There are numerous players in contention for the position, including Luther Burden III and undrafted rookie JP Richardson, who has been showing flashes as a promising wide receiver. “First and foremost, looking for a guy that’s going to secure the football for us. That’s the first goal is to secure the football and always give it back to our offense. Once we catch it, we (are) looking for a guy that can make plays, game changing plays, not just a first down. We want guys that can make people miss in space and that can take it to the house,” Hightower said. “If they don’t have the right mentality, they can’t play here anyway because that’s how Ben is. They can’t play here and they damn sure can’t play in my room if they don’t have the right mentality.” Richardson’s name has been popping up for some impressive catches he is making in practice. He has ample collegiate experience, having played in the Big 12 for four seasons. In his four years, Richardson played in 48 games and finished with 1,940 receiving yards and 11 touchdowns. “He’s in the mix. He’s on the chart, just like everybody else. He’ll get his opportunities,” Hightower said. “They’ll come and we discussed that at length and (I’m) excited to see what he can do because he made some plays in a league in college (where) they play some really good people. So, he made some plays.”
