The following is the final of nine position previews in advance of training camp.

The Bears' special teams unit features the most accurate field-goal kicker in franchise history and the longest tenured player on their roster.

Cairo Santos has connected on 90.4 percent of his field-goal attempts (113 of 125) in five seasons with the Bears. He made 1 of 2 in two games in 2017 before being sidelined with an injury, 30 of 32 upon returning to the team in 2020, 26 of 30 in 2021, 21 of 23 in 2022 and 35 of 38 last season.

Santos connected on 7 of 8 field-goal tries from 50 yards and beyond in 2023, equaling the number of 50-yarders he had made over the previous six seasons.

Santos will once again work with long-snapper Patrick Scales, who remains the longest tenured Bears player, having appeared in 120 games over eight seasons.

Scales served as the team's long-snapper in the final five contests in 2015 and all 16 games in 2016 before missing the entire 2017 season with a torn ACL he sustained in the third preseason game. He has since returned to play in all 99 contests the past six seasons.

Undrafted out of Utah State in 2011, Scales was cut five times by four different teams over three years before finally playing in his first NFL regular-season game with the Ravens Dec. 21, 2014.

The Bears will have a new punter in 2024 after selecting Iowa phenom Tory Taylor in the fourth round of the draft (122nd overall).

Last season Taylor won the Ray Guy Award as the nation's best punter and was named First-Team All-American after averaging 48.2 yards on 93 punts, placing 32 inside-the-20 with seven touchbacks.

Taylor appeared in 49 games in four seasons for the Hawkeyes, averaging 46.3 yards on 295 punts and placing 127 inside-the-20 with 32 touchbacks. He set NCAA single-season punting records last year with 4,479 yards and a 48.2-yard average. He also established career marks with a 46.3-yard average and 43 games averaging at least 40 yards per punt.

Taylor grew up in Melbourne, Australia, and is 26 years old. He was the first specialist taken in this year's draft and is the NFL's highest drafted punter since Mitch Wishnowsky was chosen by the 49ers at No. 110 in 2019.

Other specialists on the roster heading into training camp are punter Corliss Waitman and long-snapper Cameron Lyons.

With the NFL dramatically altering kickoff rules to encourage more returns in 2024, the return specialist role will be much more impactful.

Those with NFL experience at that position include Velus Jones Jr., Khalil Herbert and DeAndre Carter, who signed with the Bears in June.

Over the last two years with the Bears, Jones averaged 27.4 yards on 38 kickoff returns and Herbert averaged 24.9 yards on 32 kickoff returns. In six NFL seasons with the Eagles (2018), Texans (2018-20), Bears (2020), Commanders (2021), Chargers (2022) and Raiders (2023), Carter has averaged 22.4 yards with one touchdown on 118 kickoff returns.

Experienced punt returners in camp will include Carter and Dante Pettis. Carter has averaged 9.8 yards on 132 punt returns, while Pettis has averaged 6.6 yards on 204 punt returns in five NFL seasons with the 49ers (2018-20), Giants (2021) and Bears (2022).

Because of the new rules, more will also be expected from the kickoff coverage team. Seven players who recorded at least four special-teams tackles for the Bears last season return: Jaylon Jones (7), Travis Homer (7), Jack Sanborn (6), Elijah Hicks (5), Josh Blackwell (4), Noah Sewell (4) and Velus Jones Jr. (4).