Elemental Challenge for Trenton Gill
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There will be a huge question about new Bears punter Trenton Gill until he actually proves something.
This, of course, is the weather issue.
Punting at Soldier Field requires ridiculous concentration and toughness when the wind starts whipping off the lake at the end of October on through the end of the season. Ask former Giants punter Sean Landeta, who whiffed in the 1985 playoffs at old Soldier Field due to a wind gust.
Any kicker or punter who has spent time there over the years knows the task's difficulty. Kicker Robbie Gould had a wind gust blow a kick headed between the uprights more than halfway to the pylon at the right side of the end zone.
Gill, drafted in the seventh round, definitely has shown leg strength with an average of 45.8 yards for his career. He averaged 47.6 in 2019, 44.9 in 2020 and was the ACC's top punter for average in 2019 and 2021.
However, he hasn't really been tested in adverse weather.
"I've definitely heard a lot of stuff," Gill said about the weather. "I've heard the nickname the Windy City. I'm definitely prepared. I'm ready. I've been working on it. I'm ready to face any adversity and any challenges I have."
Actually the nickname has nothing to do with the wind but it does get windy at Soldier Field.
Gill said he has passed some weather tests in college, but time may have played a trick here with memory on the exact situation.
"Boston College last year, there was about a 35 mph wind and rain. That was tough," he said. "But that was actually one of my better games.
"And then we played in the snow versus Notre Dame a couple years ago. That was super cold. But I thought I did well in that game too, as well. I think the colder situations, that kind of makes you better because you got to focus a little bit harder."
N.C. State hasn't played Notre Dame since 2017, when Gill was a redshirt freshman and A.J. Cole was punting. They did play one horrible weather game against Notre Dame in monsoon-like conditions, but that was in North Carolina in 2016 when Gill was in high school.
Gill, who was brought up in North Carolina, had an excellent game punting at Boston College last year when it was 75 degrees at game time. He averaged 46 yards for six punts. It was cloudy at kickoff, 13 mph wind and video of the game showed at one point it may have rained a bit in the second half. He did have another strong game in 2019 at Boston College, averaging 45.5 yards on a beautiful sunny 50-degree day in the Northeast.
The coldest weather the Wolfpack played in on the road over the last three years at game time, according to NCAA records, is 42 degrees at kickoff on Nov. 16 in 2019 at Louisville. Gill did well for two punts, averaging 54 yards, but there was no snow then and none on a few other cold days for in-state during that period. It was a miserable 47 degrees with rain in the 2019 regular-season finale and 41 degrees when they closed last year against rival North Carolina.
After letting Pat O'Donnell leave for Green Bay in free agency, the Bears have veteran punter Ryan Winslow. He is largely untested with only 22 punts for four NFL teams, and has averaged 41.6 yards.
GM Ryan Poles thought they needed a punter for a competitive situation and decided on Gill in the seventh round because he thought it was better than waiting to get him as an undrafted free agent.
"I mean, when you get in bidding wars it's tough and becomes unpredictable," Poles said. "We identified him as a player who could come in and compete for that punter job.
"Instead of going through that whole process, we decided just to get it done."
The explanation seems logical, though a bit exaggerated. Bidding wars for undrafted players don't exactly eat up big chunks of salary cap space. It's more or less chump change.
Certainly there are plenty who wonder why the Bears wouldn't use a seventh-round pick on Clemson wide receiver Justyn Ross, when they have so few proven receivers on the roster. They drafted only one wide receiver, Velus Jones.
Ross was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Chiefs despite 112 catches for 1,865 yards and 17 touchdowns. But a congenital fusion of his neck and spine forced him to undergo surgery and miss last season.
There are questions whether it's medically safe for him to play but Kansas City doesn't seem to see an issue.
So, there will plenty to prove with the seventh-round selection by the Bears, apparently from a few standpoints.
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