The Chicago Bears claimed Roberto Aguayo off waivers. That collective groan fans may have heard came from the rest of the NFL. What a dumpster fire. Worst draft pick in 10 years. So on and so forth. Yes it’s no secret that the former Florida State kicker flopped hard with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Despite being a second round pick and heralded as one of the best kickers to come out of college in years, it just never worked out. People are still trying to understand why. Most think the immense pressure Tampa Bay placed on him with their draft stunt had a big hand in it. He only connected on 22-of-31 field goal. On top of that he also missed two extra points.
Source: former Bucs K Robert Aguayo has been claimed by the Chicago Bears off of waivers.
— Field Yates (@FieldYates) August 13, 2017
If he was that bad then why would the Bears claim him? For starters he only just turned 23-years old. The cost in salary cap is minimal. Their current option, Connor Barth isn’t much better. Last but not least he was insanely accurate in college. Out of 78 field goals he connected on 69 of them. The kid has talent.
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There is another reason though.
Bears claimed Roberto Aguayo because of previous gamble successes
This actually isn’t the first time the Bears have taken a chance on a discarded kicker. In fact they did it 12 years ago and the gamble ended up becoming the best in franchise history. In 2005 a lanky kid out of Penn State named Robbie Gould signed with the New England Patriots. With zero hope of unseating All-Pro Adam Vinatieri, he was released. The Baltimore Ravens signed him next but released him three weeks later.
Thinking his NFL career was over, Gould began searching for other career ventures as Chicagobears.com explained.
“Gould was working for M&R Contracting, a construction company owned by a family friend in Mill Hall, Pa., when the Bears summoned him for a tryout in October 2005.”
The tryout went well and he remained their starting kicker for the rest of the season. The next year Gould went to the Pro Bowl, kicking the Bears into the NFC championship against Seattle. He ended up spending 11 seasons in Chicago and left the most accurate kicker in franchise history with 85.4% of his attempts made.
Aguayo has that same potential and maybe more. He’s the same age Gould was when the Bears scooped him up. It would be oddly fitting if this ended up working out. Except maybe for Barth. After all he was already replaced once by Aguayo when he was cut after Tampa Bay drafted the youngster. To lose his job to the same man twice? That would be rough.
Of course there is a lot of proving to do. It will be interesting to see how Aguayo reacts to this second chance.
