Matt Nagy Responds to Kickers Search: 'Is It Exactly the Perfect Science?'
Bears coach Matt Nagy defended his team's search for a new kicker after several players who tried out at rookie minicamp were critical of Chicago's methods.
"I understand–we brought in a lot of kickers that came in here," Nagy said, according to ESPN. "To me, I look at it as a positive, in the fact that we said we're going to turn over every stone to find whoever's out there. We felt like we, at that point in time, when we brought in a bunch of kickers, we're going to test them all out and see what they can do.
"And then, within that time frame, we also put in some situations with the Augusta silence early on to see how they could handle it. Is it exactly the perfect science? I don't know that, maybe not...I just really like how we're going through this thing. [Bears general manager] Ryan [Pace] and I talk about no regrets, right?"
Nagy's comments come after the MMQB's Kalyn Kahler explored the Bears' search, where they invited nine kickers to try out at rookie minicamp in May. Some of the kickers criticized Nagy's obsession with Cody Parkey's double-doink last season, as well as the Bears' use of metrics to evaluate them.
Parkey hit the left upright and crossbar on an unsuccessful potential game-winning 43-yard field goal in a playoff loss to the Eagles. In March, the Bears released Parkey but will still pay him $3.5 million owed in 2019.
Despite Chicago's intensive search, Eddy Pineiro is the only kicker currently listed on its roster.
