Bears sign return specialist Carter to one-year deal
The Bears have signed veteran receiver and return specialist DeAndre Carter to a one-year contract, the team announced Tuesday.
The 31-year-old Carter has bounced around with several teams and spent the 2023 season with the Las Vegas Raiders. He previously played in four games with the Bears in 2020, returning punts for the Bears after Tarik Cohen tore his ACL.
Carter will join the Bears for the second time in his career when training camp begins this summer. He will likely be in contention for both the kickoff return and punt return jobs.
Over six seasons on active rosters, Carter has averaged 9.8 yards per punt return on 132 punt returns. On kickoffs, he has averaged 22.4 yards per return on 118 returns with one kickoff returned for a touchdown.
Carter returned punts and kicks last season with the Raiders. The Bears don’t have an established punt returner at the moment. Trent Taylor, last season’s punt return man, signed with the San Francisco 49ers during free agency.
During the spring practice period, the Bears tried out several players on punt return. Velus Jones Jr., Rome Odunze and Dante Pettis could all be in contention for the job.
Odunze, a rookie, returned a handful of punts in college. Jones struggled as the Bears’ punt returner in 2022, fumbling on two key fourth-quarter punts in close losses. Pettis served as the punt return man during the second half of the 2022 season following Jones’ mishaps, but spent all of last season on injured reserve.
As for kickoff returns, Jones is likely the front-runner on the roster now, but adding Carter could make things interesting. The Bears also have Nsimba Webster, Tyler Scott and Khalil Herbert who could be up for the kick return job.
With a new kickoff rule in place in 2024, the NFL is estimating as many as 50-60% of kickoffs could be returned this season — more than double the 22% that were returned in 2023.
A California native, Carter went undrafted out of Sacramento State in 2014. He signed with Baltimore in 2015 and spent the next four seasons on various practice squads. He has appeared in NFL games for six NFL teams: the Eagles, Texans, Bears, Chargers, Raiders and Commanders.
As a receiver, Carter has 108 career receptions. His best season as a receiver came as a member of the Chargers in 2022, when he totaled 46 catches for 538 yards and three touchdowns.