Bears make play for Longest

Robbie Gould might not be around, but he’s got competition.

The Bears are going to bring in St. Xavier kicker Shane Longest (Wilmington) on a free-agent contract, the school reports.

Gould has skipped the first three weeks of the voluntary offseason program, and even if he was around the Bears need a kicker for the rookie minicamp next weekend. They try to run full practices and you need plenty of bodies for that.

Longest was one of four kickers to be invited to the combine. He struggled at the beginning of his workout before steadying. Here is what one scout told Inside the Bears back on the day of the event:

`He didnt have a good workout, the scout said. “Hes a combination guy, he tried to do both, and hes not a punter. If he makes an NFL team, it will be as a kicker. But hes got a long way to go. It seemed like he was nervous and it was a bit too big for him. He just looked nervous as hell. He missed two out of three extra points when he first started out. But he settled down, I can say that. At the end, he made all three 50-yard field goals. Hes got a ways to go.