HEADLINES

Eddy Pineiro

Jets To Sign Eddy Pineiro

December 6th, 2021 at 10:35am CST by Zachary Links

Sounds like the Jets are moving on from Alex Kessman. After his two missed two extra points on Sunday, the Jets are signing kicker Eddy Pineiro, according to agent Drew Rosenhaus (Twitter link via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com). 

The Jets had an early lead over the Eagles when Kessman sent his second extra point wide left. Things only got worse from there as the Birds went on to win 33-18.

“Just gotta make them,” Kessman said (via the New York Post). “It’s what I do for a living, and I gotta make those kicks. There’s no excuses…I gotta control what I can control. If they send me out there to kick, I go out there and kick. Doesn’t matter where from, what time. I go out there and do my job, and I didn’t do my job today. Plain and simple. … I’m not gonna let two kicks define me and the kicker I am.”

Gang Green will in fact hold him accountable for his missed XPs. Now, Pineiro will become the Jets’ ninth kicker since 2017.

Pineiro lost the Colts’ kicking competition this year and hasn’t seen live action since 2019. That year, spent with the Bears, he went 23-of-28 on field goals (82.1%) and 27-of-29 on XPs.

NFL Practice Squad Updates: 9/3/21

September 3rd, 2021 at 5:15pm CST by Sam Robinson

Here are Friday’s practice squad moves:

Atlanta Falcons

Houston Texans

Indianapolis Colts

Kansas City Chiefs

Las Vegas Raiders

Los Angeles Rams

Miami Dolphins

New York Giants

San Francisco 49ers

Seattle Seahawks

Washington Football Team

Colts Cut Eddy Pineiro

August 24th, 2021 at 9:13am CST by Zachary Links

The Colts have cut kicker Eddy Pineiro (Twitter link via Adam Schefter of ESPN.com). That leaves Rodrigo Blankenship as Indy’s top leg moving forward and puts a decent kicker on the waiver wire just before the start of the season. 

Pineiro was perfect throughout the preseason but the Colts have decided to go in another direction. Pineiro joined the Colts back in May and seemed to have a real chance of unseating Blankenship. The UDFA out of Georgia was shaky throughout 2020, going just 1-of-3 from 50+ yards. Blankenship was supposed to be an accuracy kicker, but he also had a few critical misses from close range. To his credit, he did go 43 of 45 on extra point tries.

Pineiro appeared in all 16 of the Bears’ 2019 games, going 23-of-28 on field goals (82.1%) and 27-of-29 XPs. He’s perhaps best known for the trade that sent him from the Raiders to the Bears, furnishing Las Vegas with an extra seventh-round draft choice.

The rest of the league will have 24 hours to claim Pineiro. If he goes unclaimed, he’ll be free to sign with any club.

Colts To Sign K Eddy Pineiro

May 13th, 2021 at 4:04pm CST by Andrew Ortenberg

The Colts are adding some competition for Rodrigo Blankenship. Indianapolis is signing veteran kicker Eddy Pineiro, his agent Drew Rosenhaus told Adam Schefter of ESPN.com (Twitter link).

Indy signed Blankenship as an UDFA out of Georgia last offseason, and he spent his entire rookie season as the team’s kicker. He was shaky at times, and didn’t have a very strong leg at all. He was just 1/3 on attempts from 50+ yards, and the Colts wouldn’t even think about letting him attempt an extra long one. Blankenship was supposed to be an accuracy kicker, and he made 43 of 45 extra point attempts, but he did have a few critical misses from close range.

In the Colts’ playoff loss to the Bills he missed a crucial 33-yard field goal attempt, so it’s not surprising that GM Chris Ballard is adding competition. Pineiro signed with the Raiders in 2018, but spent his entire rookie season on IR. He was traded to the Bears the next offseason, and was Chicago’s kicker for all 16 games in 2019, when he made 23 of 28 field goal attempts and 27 of 29 extra points. He spent all of 2020 on IR.

Colts Audition K Eddy Pineiro

May 4th, 2021 at 10:15am CST by Zachary Links

The Colts are working out former Bears kicker Eddy Pineiro today (Twitter link via ESPN.com’s Adam Schefter). If signed, Piniero will compete with Rodrigo Blankenship over the summer for the Colts’ kicking job.

Blankenship joined the Colts last year after nailing 27 of 33 field goals in his final season at Georgia. His 82.5% make rate over four years ranked as the best in program history and he went 200-for-200 on all of his extra point tries. He wasn’t quite as sharp from long range as a pro, missing four kicks from beyond the 40-yard mark. Still, he finished his rookie year with a 86.5% FG rate.

Pineiro, meanwhile, made just 82% of his field goals for the Bears in 2019. Then, he missed all of 2020 due to a groin injury and ceded the job to Cairo Santos.

RFA/ERFA Tender Decisions: 3/17/21

March 17th, 2021 at 9:03am CST by Zachary Links

Today’s the deadline for teams to extend tender offers to their restricted free agents and exclusive rights free agents. We’ll keep tabs on the latest here:

RFAs

Tendered:

Non-Tendered: 

ERFAs

Tendered: 

Non-Tendered:

  • .

Minor NFL Transactions: 9/8/20

September 8th, 2020 at 5:23pm CST by Zachary Links

Today’s minor moves:

Arizona Cardinals

Carolina Panthers

Chicago Bears

Denver Broncos

New England Patriots

Seattle Seahawks

Bears To Sign K Cairo Santos

August 23rd, 2020 at 12:39pm CST by Rory Parks

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.

NFC North Notes: Lions, Gronk, Vikes, Bears

April 21st, 2020 at 4:45pm CST by Sam Robinson

The Vikings broke up their years-long receiver tandem of Adam Thielen and Stefon Diggs, shipping the latter to Buffalo for a package of picks. While the Vikings did not collect quite the haul they did for Percy Harvin seven years ago, Rick Spielman called it a business opportunity that benefited both Diggs and the Vikings (Twitter link via the Minneapolis Star Tribune’s Ben Goessling). Spielman said he did not intend to trade Diggs when he last spoke at the Combine, but the Bills’ offer of a first-round pick and three Day 3 choices — including a 2021 fourth-rounder — was too enticing to pass up. The Bills also upped their offer from their previous one, which occurred before the 2019 deadline. The Vikings now hold the Nos. 22 and 25 overall picks in a receiver-loaded draft, and they now have a massive need at the position.

Here is the latest from the NFC North:

  • Two years ago, the Lions nearly traded for Rob Gronkowski. Now that a team has actually swung a trade for the dominant tight end, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com provided the details (via Twitter) on the disparities between the Buccaneers and Lions’ offers. They are stark. The Lions offered the Pats their 2018 first-rounder (No. 20 overall) and were set to swap picks in the second round (dropping from No. 43 to 51) before the then-29-year-old tight end nixed the deal by threatening to retire. The Lions ended up picking Frank Ragnow in the first round; Gronkowski collected a third Super Bowl ring 10 months later and then retired. The Pats dealt the unretiring Gronk and a seventh-round pick to the Bucs for a fourth-rounder on Tuesday.
  • Everson Griffen remains unsigned and is “probably” gone from the Vikings, but the St. Paul Pioneer Press’ Chris Tomasson notes if Minnesota does not land a pass rusher in the draft it is not out of the question the 10-year veteran returns (Twitter link). Griffen issued a statement indicating an 11th Vikings season was not in the cards, but Tomasson indicates (via Twitter) he merely wanted to inform other teams he was available and not a lock to return to Minnesota. Griffen’s mental health episode in 2018 may well be impacting his free agency, with Tomasson tweeting teams would like to meet with him and discuss it. The 32-year-old edge defender will likely have to reassess his options after the draft.
  • Another year, another Bears kicking competition. After a very public kicker battle throughout the 2019 offseason, the Bears will hold another this year. Incumbent Eddy Pineiro will match up against lower-profile challenger Ramiz Ahmed, Ryan Pace confirmed (via the Chicago Sun-Times’ Jason Lieser). The Bears signed Ahmed, who kicked at Nevada for one season and has yet to kick in an NFL game, last week but had their eye on him as a UDFA last year. A late addition last summer, Pineiro made 23 of 28 field goals with the Bears last season.
Load More Posts