Bears sign kicking competition for Cairo Santos in form of talented 3rd-round pick

Billy Heyen

Bears sign kicking competition for Cairo Santos in form of talented 3rd-round pick image

The Chicago Bears saw an opportunity to add a talented player to their organization and took it.

On Friday, the Bears signed kicker Jake Moody to their practice squad, according to NFL insider Jordan Schultz.

Moody was just cut by the San Francisco 49ers after a rough Week 1.

He had a shaky 2024 season, too, so there's no guarantee he can return to form. But he was a third-round pick out of Michigan in 2023 and showed promise as a rookie.

For now, he'll be depth behind Bears kicker Cairo Santos. But Chicago clearly feels there might be upside to be tapped into here.

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The struggle was real of late in San Francisco, though.

"Since Week 10 of last season, kicker Jake Moody has made 12 of 23 field goal tries, a 52% rate that is more than 11% lower than all other kickers who have attempted at least 10 field goals across that span," ESPN's Nick Wagoner wrote on Monday. "On Sunday, he missed from 27 yards in the first half then had a 36-yarder blocked in the second half, making him the first San Francisco kicker to have two misses inside 40 yards in a game since 2006."

As a rookie in 2023, Moody had made 84% of his field goals.

That was down to 70% in 2024, already too low a number.

And then Week 1 went awry, and that was that.

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The 49ers moved onto Eddy Pineiro from free agency.

And now the Bears have given Moody a new home back in the Midwest.

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Billy Heyen

Billy Heyen is a freelance writer with The Sporting News. He is a 2019 graduate of Syracuse University who has written about many sports and fantasy sports for The Sporting News. Sports reporting work has also appeared in a number of newspapers, including the Sandusky Register and Rochester Democrat & Chronicle