Mickalino Posted May 22, 2005 Share Posted May 22, 2005 Bears grant Edinger's request to be released May 22, 2005 LAKE FOREST, Ill. - The Bears will have a new kicker in 2005 after Sunday's release of five-year veteran Paul Edinger. The 2000 sixth-round draft pick from Michigan State had requested the move after the club signed free agent Doug Brien May 12. The Bears were determined to improve the position after Edinger missed an NFL-high nine field goal attempts last season. In addition to acquiring Brien, they signed undrafted free agents Tyler Jones and Nick Novak last month. We appreciate Paul's contributions to our team over the last five seasons," said general manager Jerry Angelo. "With the addition of Doug Brien to our roster, and watching him and our two rookies over this weekend's minicamp, we felt comfortable granting Paul's request to be released. "We feel good about the direction of our kicking position and Paul will have the opportunity to join another team's offseason program well before training camp." Edinger made 16 of his first 17 field goal attempts in 2003, improving his career success rate to a franchise-record 82.5 percent. But he slumped for a year and a half, hitting just 10 of 19 tries in the final eight games in 2003 and 15 of 24 last season. Brien now becomes the favorite to win the job. The 11-year veteran was released by the New York Jets April 28, five days after the Jets selected Ohio State kicker Mike Nugent in the second round of the draft. Brien is the most accurate field goal kicker in Jets history, having converted 51 of 61 attempts (83.6 percent) the last two seasons while also recording 105 points in each campaign. But his departure was hastened after he missed from 47 and 43 yards in the final 1:58 of regulation in a 20-17 overtime playoff loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers last January. Before Edinger's release, all four kickers attempted one field goal from 28, 33, 38, 40 and 43 yards Sunday at minicamp. Edinger and Novak both made all five of their kicks, while Brien and Jones each missed once from 33 and 43 yards, respectively. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TODD Posted May 22, 2005 Share Posted May 22, 2005 Replace Edinger with Brien? I guess the Bears will always be the Bears... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mickalino Posted May 22, 2005 Author Share Posted May 22, 2005 I agree. Edinger may have had on off-year last year, but he was an elite kicker who always used to scare me when we played the Bears. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jtyler42 Posted May 22, 2005 Share Posted May 22, 2005 Kickers always go through slumps like this.... Look at David Akers when we had him he wasnt very accurate but the Iggles pick him up and he is now all world...Or look at Jeff Chandler for us he stunk when he was w/the Niners but he was accurate and steady w/us... That's why kickers rarely do well w/their 1st or even 2nd teams they bounce around a little before they find a home... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DominatingDonkeys Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 Kickers are totally mental. When they struggle it's a complete show. I'm not shocked by Edinger being released at all. When you complete just barely over 50% of your FG's over the last 2 years and you can't kick the ball past the 20 on your kickoffs, I'd say that's a problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
miragv Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 Really hope this opens some doors for Nick the kick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TODD Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 Originally posted by DominatingDonkeys Kickers are totally mental. When they struggle it's a complete show. I'm not shocked by Edinger being released at all. When you complete just barely over 50% of your FG's over the last 2 years and you can't kick the ball past the 20 on your kickoffs, I'd say that's a problem. See: Al Del Greco Perfect example. He was great until he lost his head and missed an extra point and some chip shots in a 2-3 game span, never was the same. He was an all-world kicker before that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stburn Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 The mental thing can work the other way too. Look at Vanderjagt's performance after Dungy put the heat on him for his comments from a "drunk kicker." I'm not sure he missed a FG that entire season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubba9497 Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 he'll be heading north to the Vikes, I'd bet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Southtown Posted May 23, 2005 Share Posted May 23, 2005 Originally posted by TODD See: Al Del Greco Perfect example. He was great until he lost his head and missed an extra point and some chip shots in a 2-3 game span, never was the same. He was an all-world kicker before that. Similar to when Chip Lohmiller lost Jeff Rutledge as his holder. (big article about that years ago that I would have absolutely no chance at finding now) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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