A couple of months ago Robbie Gould (Chicago Bears Kicker) called me and asked if he could send his younger brother (Chris) down to Arizona for some One on One Kicking Lessons.
When I was the Special Teams Coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens we signed Robbie Gould to our practice squad for about 3 or 4 weeks. During the time we worked together I could see that he was a very talented kicker.
The problem was the NFL's 80 man roster rule. We had to make some roster decisions and we ended up having to release Robbie rather than develop him. At that time Matt Stover was kicking at a very high level and Robbie was released.
It was bad news back then but good news weeks later when Robbie worked out for the Chicago Bears and was signed and became their starting kicker. He went to the Pro Bowl two years later and is now entrenched as the Bears kicker.
After working two days with Chris Gould I can see he has the potential to also be an excellent kicker.
Chris had a couple of minor flaws in his technique. After watching him kick and reviewing the video I introduced a couple of drills to get Chris to kick more up and through the ball.
After working a couple of drills, Chris could feel and see some positive results.
After two days of One on One Kicking Lessons Chris was kicking up and through the ball much better and was kicking the ball with much better consistency. I told Chris to go back home and work the drills and practice for two to three weeks and give me a call.
It was a pleasure meeting and working with Chris and I wish him the best of luck in the future. Chris would like to come back to my Free Agent Combine March 27 - 28. If he keeps improving and becomes more consistent he should have no problem qualifying for the event.
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