By Jordan Long
The Chicago Bears know how important the kicking game is. They have decided to agree to a contract extension with Cairo Santos. It is a 5-year deal and will pay him $16 million for the length of the contract or up to $3.66 million per year.
In 2019 Santos was awful in 5 games for the Titans. Tennessee couldn’t trust him kicking the ball through the uprights. Santos was a disappointing 4 of 9 with a long of 53. Tennessee cut him on October 7th, 2019. This was after a disastrous game against the Buffalo Bills in week 5. He went 0-4 on field goals in a 14-7 loss.
Santos put 2019 behind him. Last year he was pretty automatic for the Bears. When Bears’ drives stalled out and they were in Santos’ range, he would nail field goals to add points on the scoreboard. Santos was 30 of 32 or making 93.8% of his kicks. He even went on a stretch where he made 27 straight field goals which is a franchise record. His longest field goal was 55 yards, a career high.
When it came to PAT’s, Santos was pretty automatic. He ended 36 of 37 for PAT’s. With his kicking, the Bears ended up in the playoffs. In the Wild Card loss against the Saints, he attempted one field goal from 36 yards. That field goal was good, but the Bears fell to the Saints 21-9.
Once the season ended, the Bears wanted to keep Santos. He showed he can handle the duties of being the kicker in Chicago. This new agreement will keep him in Chicago for at least 5 more years. Santos showed he deserved it.
The contract may not work out if Santos starts missing field goals as he did in Tennessee. Those misses will give the opponent’s offense a short field to work with. It could cost Chicago points. On paper, Santos deserved this extension. Hopefully, he will live up to it and help Chicago not only reach the postseason again, but advance further.
Leave a Reply