The Raiders have given up kicker Eddy Pineiro in exchange for a conditional 2021 seventh-round draft pick, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reports.
Pineiro was considered one of the top two or three kickers out of the 2018 kicker class, however, he has yet to attempt a kick in the NFL.
He was expected to be the Raiders’ kicker in last season, but he injured his groin and ended up on their injury reserve list for the season.
Despite being a high-ranked kicker in his class Pineiro wasn’t chosen by any team in the 2018 NFL Draft and Oakland ended up taking him on as a undrafted free agent.
The Bears are in need of a new kicker after they released Cody Parkey after a poor season – he only made 23 of his 30 field goal attempts.
Parker also missed the Bears’ game-winning 43-yard field goal attempt against the Philadelphia Eagles in the playoffs, after his attempt ended up hitting the left upright and crossbar.
Since releasing Parkey, the Bears’ search for a replacement hasn’t been a smooth experience.
During their mini camp last week they had eight kickers on the field who were given a chance to convert a 43-yard attempt – only two kickers were successful.
Bears coach Matt Nagy insisted it wasn’t solely down to the kickers, as he citied problems with the snap and hold.
“That’s not good enough,” Nagy said about the performances of the kickers.
“Now I will say this: We always look at the end result of what happens, which is 100 percent what matters, right?
“But as we’re learning, two of those eight holds and snaps, it wasn’t 100 percent, all right. I’ll leave it at that.
“So it’s not always, ‘So we’ve got to work through that.’
“That’s why after today we’re not going to just go about and make rash decisions or anything. We’re going to play it out.”
Bears fans will hope Pineiro will be able to bring some consistency to the position when he joins the team for training.
In college he played for the the Florida Gators and during he two years there he made 37 of 43 field goals and 56 of 58 extra points.
In his final year in college he was 17 of 18 on field goals.
Pineiro also boasted a perfect record from inside of 40 yards in his final season.