By releasing many high-priced veteran players, the Chicago Bears have created not just more salary cap space, but also some glaring holes on the roster.
Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace have wasted no time purging the Chicago Bears roster this offseason and creating cap space for 2018. The Bears have been one of the more active teams in releasing veteran players and more moves are still expected.
Already the team has moved on from Josh Sitton, Jerrell Freeman, Quintin Demps, Pernell McPhee, and Willie Young. Mike Glennon has also been informed that he will be released once the league’s calendar year begins (March 14). All six players were opening-day starters in 2017.
As a result of all these moves, the Bears have created a ton of cap space but also several holes on the roster. If the Bears decided to pick-up the option on Josh Sitton, they would have been set at guard. However, guard (or center if Cody Whitehair shifts to guard) becomes a pressing need now heading into free agency and the draft. It’s such a need that many are projecting the team to use its first-round pick (eighth-overall) on Notre Dame guard Quenton Nelson.
Furthermore, Pernell McPhee and Willie Young were well past their prime, but they still were serviceable pieces when healthy. With their release, the team is dangerously thin at outside linebacker. Leonard Floyd is promising (yet injury prone) and Isaiah Irving is intriguing, but after that, there’s nothing.
Losing Quintin Demps and Jerrell Freeman doesn’t hurt and Mike Glennon isn’t a loss either, but the Bears depth does take a hit. It’s unclear if Amos can duplicate his strong 2017 campaign, so the Bears likely will have to bring in a veteran to at least provide competition. And as far as the backup quarterback position, it’s anybody’s guess as to what direction the team will head in.
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Demps, Freeman, and Glennon were obvious cut-candidates, and creating more cap space is never a bad thing. However, with Ryan Pace’s shaky history in free agency, it’s still yet to be seen if he knows who to spend the money on.