The Chicago Bears drafted Trenton Gill in the seventh round of the 2022 NFL Draft, and Gill was the punter all last season for the Bears. But in the offseason, the Bears signed Ryan Anderson to a 1-year $750,000 contract. The signing of Anderson begs the question: is there a punting position battle in Chicago?
The Bears currently have Trenton Gill on a rookie contract worth $3.7 million where he is due $870,000 this year, with that value set to rise throughout the following two seasons. Trenton Gill didn’t necessarily struggle last year, minus the blocked punt he had against the Dolphins that proved to be critical in the loss. He booted 66 punts for a 46-yard average per punt which ranked him in 23rd in the league.
Ryan Anderson, on the other hand, has never played a snap in the NFL. He had one good year of college ball at Rutgers where he won the First Team All Big-Ten Punter award, but went undrafted in 2018 and was most recently a member of the New York Giants after a rookie minicamp tryout in 2019 before being waived.
It’s tough to grade the punter position in football. If you usually go out there and punt the ball, and hopefully within the 20 or 10-yard line, then your team likes you. You’ll only hear complaints from fans if you mess up a punt or things go horribly wrong on a fake punt.
So who will punt for the Bears in 2023? It seems more likely that the Bears will stick with Trenton Gill considering he wasn’t too bad in 2022 and they spent a draft pick on him compared to the likes of Ryan Anderson, who they can release at any time without any harm to their payroll. The only consideration that might make the Bears stick with Anderson is because his contract is cheaper or he shows out in training camp or the preseason.
