Chicago Bears 2020 Position Battles: Any changes to the specialists this year?

With this season being played while a pandemic is raging on across the United States, getting a full roster of players through the year could be a challenge. With teams generally only carrying one each at the three specialists positions, the odds of having the same kicker, punter, and long snapper all year long aren’t as good as at some other positions.

The specialists are always off doing their own thing most of practice anyway, but I wonder if we’ll see the Chicago Bears take it to another level and give this group a mini-quarantine by keeping them away as much as possible all year long.

Roster Locks

Eddy Piñeiro had a solid debut season in Chicago last year, and I think he’ll do enough to keep his job in 2020. Overall he went 23 for 28 on field goals while battling an injury around mid-season, but he finished the year making 11 in a row. Four of his five misses came between 40-49 yards, but he was 2 for 2 at 50 yards plus. I’d like to see his leg strength increase, but that’s something that commonly comes as kickers mature.

Patrick O’Donnell has been a steady punter during his six years in Chicago and last year he added kickoff duties to his resume. His touch-back percentage was a respectable 66.7% and he’s a lock to make the 2020 roster.

Even though long snapper Patrick Scales is the lowest rated Bear in the Madden Video game at 30 overall, he’s been another steady performer during his time in Chicago and isn’t going anywhere.

A good bet to make it

What you see is what you get on the current roster...

On the bubble

The Bears will have kicker Ramiz Ahmed in camp for some of the offseason at least, and if he does decent enough he’ll earn the chance to get a call if there’s an in-season issue from Piñeiro.

EDIT: The Bears have released Ahmed.