Does Cairo Santos have his spot locked up or will Jonathan Kim challenge him?
Our next training camp battle will be fully determined by the challenger.
I think basically all Chicago Bears fans understand the limitations of Cairo Santos. The Bears don’t need to be actively pursuing his replacement right now. He’s a reliable kicker, being virtually automatic from inside 40 yards. But Santos’ issues are that he isn’t nearly as reliable when kicks are a little further out.
Santos isn’t awful beyond 40 yards, but he’s pedestrian. He only made 5 of his 8 kicks from 40 to 49 yards, and while he was quite good from 50+ (he was 8 for 9 last year), the problem is that Santos’ 50+ attempts are usually just 51 or 52 yards long. He has hit a few times from 54 or 55, but those are usually indoors or aided by the wind. He just doesn’t have the type of leg that good teams have at that spot.
Santos is under contract for the next three seasons, but at this point, it isn’t too difficult for the Bears to get out from under his contract. It’s a good situation for the Bears. They have Santos for the next three years at an affordable rate, but they can replace him whenever they see fit.
Enter Jonathan Kim.
Kim spent six seasons in college football. He spent four years at North Carolina and rarely played, but thanks to all the extended careers around COVID, he was able to transfer to Michigan State two seasons ago.
Kim’s 2023 season was a little suspect, making just 13 of 18 field goals, but last season he jumped to going 19 for 21 and earning second-team All-Big Ten. Last season, Kim made 3 of 4 from 50+ and was 8 for 8 from 40 to 49. Any kicker that makes 11 for 12 from beyond 40 is going to get looks by NFL teams. Kim’s long last season was 55 yards, which matches Santos’ career long as well. Kim’s long in 2023 was 58 yards, well beyond the range of Santos.
Kim was considered a good kicking prospect, but not elite. Of the draft websites that rank kickers, none had Kim in the top five kickers.
But Kim has an NFL leg and showed significant improvement from 2023 to 2024. If Kim comes in and impresses the Bears, especially from 50+ yards, they will absolutely have to consider him to take over for Santos this season.
However, if Kim looks like most rookies do and has some inconsistencies in his game in training camp and potentially in preseason games as well, Kim is going to find himself being released before week one, and Santos will remain the Bears’ kicker, at least for this season.