If I were walking into a draft today, I would think about using my last pick on Matt Bryant. He’s not even on a team, but I think he’s got a chance to be a top-5 kicker.

Robbie Gould and the 49ers, of course, are in a standoff. He wants to return to play in Chicago. They’ve got him protected by the franchise tag, but he says he won’t show up until September. The Bears are helping this drama along by patiently waiting – they haven’t made a commitment to a notable kicker.

I would think that at some point, San Francisco would be willing to let him go. If they could get a fourth-round pick out of Chicago, that would probably get the deal done. The Bears have given up a lot more in trades before with the 49ers (see “Trubisky, 2017 draft”).

If and when Gould heads back to Windy City, I would expect Kyle Shanahan would start thinking about Bryant. They were a successful pair in Atlanta in 2016, with Bryant scoring a league-high 158 kicking points.

Bryant is old (maybe too old – he turns 44 this month) but Shanahan’s offenses tend to be kicker friendly. Only five kickers have scored 145-plus points in a season in the last three years, and Shanahan’s fingerprints are on two of them.

Whoever winds up kicking in San Francisco will be a good contender for top-5 production, and I think there’s some chance it’s Bryant.

HIGHEST-SCORING KICKERS, last 3 years
YearPlayerPts
2017Greg Zuerlein, LAR158
2016Matt Bryant, Atl.158
2017Stephen Gostkowski, N.E.156
2018Ka'imi Fairbairn, Hou.150
2017Robbie Gould, S.F.145
2017Chris Boswell, Pitt.142
2017Harrison Butker, K.C.142
2018Justin Tucker, Balt.141
2017Justin Tucker, Balt.141
2016Justin Tucker, Balt.141
2017Wil Lutz, N.O.140
2016Dustin Hopkins, Wash.138
2018Harrison Butker, K.C.137
2017Matt Bryant, Atl.137
2018Wil Lutz, N.O.136
2017Ryan Succop, Tenn.136
2016Caleb Sturgis, Phil.135
2016Wil Lutz, N.O.133
2018Stephen Gostkowski, N.E.130
2017Matt Prater, Det.130
2017Kai Forbath, Minn.130
2018Jason Myers, NYJ129
2016Cairo Santos, K.C.129
2016Stephen Hauschka, Sea.128
2018Aldrick Rosas, NYG127
2016Dan Bailey, Dall.127
2016Nick Novak, Hou.127
2016Stephen Gostkowski, N.E.127
2018Robbie Gould, S.F.126
2016Adam Vinatieri, Ind.125

—Ian Allan