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Pat O’Donnell is heading to punt on the Frozen Tundra.
O’Donnell, who was a sixth-round draft pick for the Chicago Bears in 2014, was the longest-tenured Bears player, but the team’s new regime, led by general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus, chose to move on.
Now, O’Donnell will be the new punter for the Green Bay Packers, as first reported by NFL insider Tom Pelissero. The Packers chose not to bring back ex-punter Corey Bojorquez, who was let go on March 16, a day before the addition of O’Donnell was reported.
Without O’Donnell, the Bears special teams unit is going to look very different next year. O’Donnell had also served as the holder for kicker Cairo Santos, so the Bears’ new group of specialists will have some practicing to do.
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O’Donnell Was Reliable Presence in His 8 Seasons
In his eight years playing for the Bears, the 31-year-old O’Donnell was a reliable presence, missing just one game in that span. He has a career average of 45.1 yards per punt, and he pinned opposing teams back behind the 20-yard line regularly. He did it 20 times last season, per Pro Football Focus. He handled the wind and elements at Soldier Field capably, and his experience punting in cold weather should serve him well at Lambeau Field.
O’Donnell was also the holder for every Bears kicker to walk through the doors of Halas Hall from Robbie Gould to Cody Parkey to Santos. Chicago has re-signed long snapper Patrick Scales for the 2023 season, and Santos is slated to become an unrestricted free agent in 2024, so now, the Bears need to find a suitable replacement for O’Donnell.
They signed punter Ryan Winslow, but he has just six career games under his belt since entering the league in 2019, so it’s likely they’ll be bringing in someone with more experience.
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Should Bears Go After Bojorquez?
They should, indeed. The Packers didn’t release Bojorquez based on bad performance — they did it as a last-minute move to get under the NFL’s salary cap before the new league year began at 4 p.m. Eastern on Match 16.
Bojorquez had a costly blocked punt late in the fourth quarter of Green Bay’s divisional loss to the San Francisco 49ers, and he fell off a bit in the final month of the season, but all things considered, his numbers were better than O’Donnell’s in some areas.
Bojorquez, 25, finished 12th in the NFL and punt average last season (46.5 yards) while O’Donnell finished 15th (46.2 yards). Bojorquez had a season-long boot of 82 yards, and O’Donnell’s longest last year was 72 yards. O’Donnell pinned opponents inside the 20-yard line 20 times, and Bojorquez did it 22 times, also kicking in harsh weather conditions. The former Packers punter also saw fewer of his kicks returned (39.6%) than O’Donnell did (54.8%).
All things considered, a punter swap shouldn’t be out of the question here. The Bears have already added former Packers interior offensive lineman Lucas Patrick, so why not bring another former Cheesehead to Chi town?
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