Pat O’Donnell

Patrick Michael O’Donnell is an American football punter for the National Football League’s Chicago Bears. He attended the University of Cincinnati and the University of Miami for college football. O’Donnell was ranked a two-star recruit by Rivals.com in 2008 and committed to the University of Cincinnati in December of the same year. As a freshman, O’Donnell made his debut against Southeast Missouri State. In 2010, he was named to the all-Big East first team and was a semifinalist for the Ray Guy Award. In 2013, he transferred to University of Miami, citing interests to remain close to family. He was named first-team all-ACC and the Hurricanes’ Special Teams MVP at the end of the 2013 season.

O’Donnell was drafted by the Chicago Bears with the 191st overall pick in the sixth round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He was the first punter selected by the Bears since Todd Sauerbrun in 1996. In 2017, he threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Benny Cunningham on a fake. In 2018, he signed a one-year contract extension with the Bears worth $1.5 million and received a two-year extension on March 18, 2019. O’Donnell ended that year with a net punting average of 40.7 yards, setting the team record previously held by Adam Podlesh (40.4 in 2011). As of 2019’s NFL off-season, he held at least two Bears franchise records, including most net yards punted over a season (46.98, in 2017) and most career net yards (44.91).