NFC Notes: Bears, 49ers, Lions

Bears K Eddy Pineiro won’t have to go through the rigors he did last offseason to win Chicago’s starting kicking job, when HC Matt Nagy made a big show of bringing in half a dozen candidates and putting them through tests like the “Augusta Silence.” But Chicago did sign K Ramiz Ahmed to make sure Pineiro didn’t get complacent and the message was received loud and clear. 

“As far as them signing him, I obviously expected it,” Pineiro said via Colleen Kane of the Chicago Tribune. “Everybody has to compete. That’s just part of that.”

Pineiro said he’s been working with Bears P Pat O’Donnell, who also holds during field goals, and the two have been intentional in their workouts. 

“Me and Pat don’t just go in and just kick some balls — we kind of have a set game plan,” Pineiro said. “’Like, ‘OK, we’re going to do this last-second field goal at the end of practice’ or ‘We’re going to manipulate the wind or hit the ball this way for it to go this way.’ Stuff like that. We work on a lot of details. . . . We’re going to kick more kicks on the left hash and kick more kicks on the right hash, just different scenarios. We try to put ourselves in the most in-game, real situations as we possibly can.”

49ers

• Nick Wagoner of ESPN doesn’t expect the 49ers to seriously pursue acquiring Jets S Jamal Adams given their lack of cap space and GM John Lynch previously indicated he would never want to be in a position without draft capital. 
• In the end, Wagoner does not think trading for Adams would be worth the loss of premium draft picks under cost-controlled rookie contracts. 
• Eric Branch of the San Francisco Chronicle reports that a 49ers’ player tested positive for the Coronavirus on Friday after working out with a “large group of teammates” in Nashville, Tennessee. 
• Branch notes that at least 15 skill-position players took part in the Nashville practices including TE George Kittle, WR Trent Taylor, and QBs Jimmy Garoppolo, Nick Mullens and Broc Rutter.
• According to Branch, the players who traveled to Nashville must remain in the state until they receive their test results.

Lions

Lions defensive coordinator Cory Undlin says first-round CB Jeffrey Okudah is one of the most driven individuals he’s been around. 

“He’s driven like few men I’ve been around in this profession,” Undlin said, via the Detroit News. “I know that and I can tell that, albeit on a Zoom call. The guy, he’s nonstop, to the point where it’s like, ‘Jeff, can we not talk about football for like five minutes? Do you do anything else? Like, what are we doing?’ That’s how he’s wired.”