Bears To Sign K Cairo Santos
The Bears are expected to sign kicker Cairo Santos, as Adam Schefter of ESPN.com reports (via Twitter). Schefter’s ESPN colleague, Field Yates, had reported shortly beforehand that Chicago was bringing Santos in for a workout (Twitter link).
Santos signed with the Chiefs as a UDFA in 2014 and served as Kansas City’s kicker from 2014-16. He was largely successful during that time, never hitting less than 81.1% of his kicks and nailing a very strong 88.6% in 2016. But a groin injury derailed his career a bit, and KC waived him partway through the 2017 season. The Bears picked him up a few weeks later, but he appeared in just two games for Chicago before landing on IR.
Over the past two seasons, Santos has suited up for the Rams, Bucs, and Titans. He hooked on with Tennessee just before the start of the 2019 season to replace the injured Ryan Succop, but his stint in the Music City was disastrous. In his fifth game with the Titans, Santos missed four field goals in a 14-7 loss, and he was cut shortly thereafter.
The Bears appeared to stabilize their kicking situation with Eddy Pineiro in 2019. Pineiro won the job after an open casting call last offseason, and he ultimately connected on 23 of 28 field goal tries and 27 of 29 PATs. But as Jason Lieser of the Chicago Sun-Times tweets, head coach Matt Nagy gave a non-answer yesterday when asked how Pineiro was doing in camp thus far. Apparently, Pineiro did not attempt a single field goal during the portions of practice that were open to the media this past week, so there is plenty of speculation that Santos may be more than just veteran competition.
COVID-19 Test Results Cause Concern
NFL training camps had been rolling right along with very few COVID-19 cases. The positivity rate had been less than 1% (and dropping), and as of this morning, only four players league-wide were on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
But the NFL released a statement today indicating that yesterday’s testing returned several positive results from each team that is serviced by the same lab in New Jersey. The league is investigating those results, the impacted teams are working to confirm or deny the positive tests, and clubs around the league are taking precautionary measures, including altering or cancelling football activities today. The full statement can be found here, courtesy of Tom Pelissero of the NFL Network (on Twitter).
Luckily, it appears this might just be a issue with the testing site. Indeed, as Brad Biggs of the Chicago Times tweets, the Bears’ testing on Saturday yielded nine positive tests, but it turned out that all nine were false positives. The Bears have simply pushed back today’s morning practice to later in the afternoon, and at least a few clubs that aren’t serviced by the New Jersey location are practicing as normal.
Of course, even false positives during the regular season could force games to be canceled or force healthy players to sit out, so it may be a blessing in disguise that this has happened now so that the league will be better equipped to handle lab irregularities in the future. As of now, today’s news just seems to be a blip in the radar, but it is obviously worth keeping an eye on.
NFL Workout Updates: 8/21/20
Here are the notable workouts teams conducted recently:
Carolina Panthers
- LB Devante Bond, LB Corey Nelson, LB Julian Stanford
Chicago Bears
- DB Briean Boddy-Calhoun, DT Jay Bromley, DT Nazair Jones, CB Brandon Williams, DB Howard Wilson
Detroit Lions
- DE Jayrone Elliott, DT T.Y. McGill
Houston Texans
- LS Andrew DePaola, RB Tyler Gaffney, LS Carson Tinker
Indianapolis Colts
Miami Dolphins
- QB Jake Rudock (visit)
New York Jets
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/21/20
Here are today’s minor moves:
Arizona Cardinals
- Placed on IR: CB Robert Alford
Atlanta Falcons
- Waived: OL Scottie Dill
Chicago Bears
- Placed on IR: TE Darion Clark
Indianapolis Colts
- Claimed (from Panthers): TE Andrew Vollert
New York Jets
- Signed: S Anthony Cioffi
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Waived: WR Saeed Blacknall
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/20/20
Here are Thursday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the afternoon:
Carolina Panthers
- Claimed (from Bills): K/P Kaare Vedvik
- Waived: TE Andrew Vollert
Chicago Bears
- Placed on IR: Artie Burns (story)
Detroit Lions
- Signed: RB Wes Hills
- Placed on IR: DT Jashon Cornell
- Waived: FB Luke Sellers
Jacksonville Jaguars
- Placed on IR: TE Josh Oliver
New Orleans Saints
- Reverted to IR: DB Tino Ellis
Philadelphia Eagles
- Claimed (from Packers): WR Travis Fulgham
Pittsburgh Steelers
- Signed: WR Ray-Ray McCloud
San Francisco 49ers
- Waived: DB DeMarkus Acy, LB Jonas Griffith
Washington Football Team
- Released: OL Kevin Pamphile
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/19/20
Here are Wednesday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the afternoon.
Buffalo Bills
- Signed: P Lachlan Edwards
- Waived: K/P Kaare Vedvik
Chicago Bears
- Signed: WR Rodney Adams
Detroit Lions
- Re-signed: WR Chris Lacy
Green Bay Packers
- Waived: T Travis Bruffy, WR Travis Fulgham
Kansas City Chiefs
- Signed: S Adrian Colbert, WR Marcus Kemp
New Orleans Saints
- Waived/injured: DB Tino Ellis
San Francisco 49ers
- Signed: LB/S: Evan Foster
Tennessee Titans
- Signed: WR Krishawn Hogan, RB Marcus Marshall
- Waived: RB Dalyn Dawkins, TE Parker Hesse, WR Kyle Williams
Bears CB Artie Burns Tears ACL
The Bears will be without one of their offseason additions. Artie Burns suffered a torn ACL during practice, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Tuesday tests confirmed the diagnosis, which will end the cornerback’s season.
A former Steelers first-round pick, Burns signed a one-year deal worth just more than $1MM. This was to be a comeback bid of sorts for Burns, who did not do well to justify his draft slot in Pittsburgh.
Chicago cut Prince Amukamara earlier this year and was counting on Burns to play a role in its secondary. The team drafted Utah’s Jaylon Johnson in Round 2, however. Despite this being a difficult year for rookies to transition to the pro game, the Day 2 selection may be asked to contribute from the start.
Burns, 25, has made 32 career starts. But he trended down with the Steelers as his career progressed. The ex-Miami Hurricane prospect played just 6% of Pittsburgh’s defensive snaps last season and will now have to wait until 2021 to resume his career. Notable veteran corners remain available in free agency. Logan Ryan, Aqib Talib, Dre Kirkpatrick and Trumaine Johnson represent the biggest names out there.
Cordarrelle Patterson Working At RB
- An interesting development from Bears camp: Cordarrelle Patterson is not working with Chicago’s wide receiver group. Instead, the All-Pro kick returner is practicing as a running back, Mike Garafolo of NFL.com notes. The Bears had hoped to dial up more plays to capitalize on the veteran’s unique skill set last season, and Garafolo adds that should be something to monitor for the upcoming campaign. Patterson never worked out as a true receiver, but the All-Decade return man has enjoyed success as a gadget piece while seeing some running back snaps in New England.
Minor NFL Transactions: 8/11/20
Here are Tuesday’s minor moves, with the list being updated throughout the afternoon.
Chicago Bears
- Signed: DB Marqui Christian
- Waived: K Ramiz Ahmed
Cincinnati Bengals
- Waived: DT Tyler Clark
Los Angeles Rams
- Waived: CB Levonta Taylor
New England Patriots
- Signed: C Tyler Gauthier
New York Giants
- Signed: OL Jackson Dennis, WR Cody White
- Waived: TE Kyle Markway, LB Mark McLaurin
Seattle Seahawks
- Waived: CB Kemah Siverand
Tennessee Titans
- Waived/injured: LB Reggie Gilbert
2020 NFL Cap Space, By Team
A total of 67 NFL players opted out of the 2020 season, leaving teams with major roster holes and newly-found cap space. Here’s the rundown of every team’s official cap figure, via ESPN.com’s Field Yates (on Twitter):
- Cleveland Browns – $40.5MM
- New England Patriots – $33.4MM
- Washington Football Team – $30.6MM
- Denver Broncos – $29.5MM
- New York Jets – $29.3MM
- Tennessee Titans – $25.2MM
- Miami Dolphins – $24.7MM
- Buffalo Bills – $24.2MM
- Philadelphia Eagles – $23.7MM
- Detroit Lions – $22.9MM
- Indianapolis Colts – $22.3MM
- New York Giants – $21.4MM
- Houston Texans – $21.1MM
- Cincinnati Bengals – $18.6MM
- Chicago Bears – $17.2MM
- Jacksonville Jaguars – $17MM
- Seattle Seahawks – $14.5MM
- Los Angeles Chargers – $13.7MM
- Green Bay Packers – $12.3MM
- Carolina Panthers – $13.2MM
- Kansas City Chiefs – $13MM
- San Francisco 49ers – $12.5MM
- Minnesota Vikings – $12.4MM
- Dallas Cowboys – $9.9MM
- New Orleans Saints – $7.8MM
- Atlanta Falcons – $7.4MM
- Baltimore Ravens – $7MM
- Arizona Cardinals – $5.6MM
- Pittsburgh Steelers – $4.5MM
- Los Angeles Rams – $3.9MM
- Las Vegas Raiders – $3.3MM
- Tampa Bay Buccaneers – $1.4MM