Chicago Bears: 4 Players who may be on their way out
Jonathan Bullard, Defensive End
The Chicago Bears had high hopes for Jonathan Bullard when they drafted him in the third round of the 2016 draft. They expected him to play opposite of Akiem Hicks and next to Eddie Goldman to give the Bears a strong defensive line.
In his first two seasons, however, Bullard had trouble beating out Mitch Unrein, a player who wasn’t exactly one of the top players in the league. In 2018, after the Bears allowed Unrein to walk, Bullard had a perfect opportunity to take the starting defensive end spot. This time, however, he had trouble beating out Roy Robertson-Harris.
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The Bears picked Robertson-Harris as an undrafted linebacker. After spending the 2016 season on the non-football injury list, he packed on 40 pounds on his 6-7, 255-pound frame and move to defensive end. He did a good job of challenging for the starter’s job this preseason. As a result of his play, he and Bullard split time at the position.
For his career, Bullard has 62 tackles and just two sacks in 46 games. This season he had 18 tackles and no sacks. On the other hand, Robertson-Harris has 35 (23 in 2018) tackles and five sacks (three in 2018) in 29 games.
Bullard hasn’t fulfilled the hopes the Bears had for him. He has just one more season on his rookie contract. Should the Bears part ways with him, it won’t hurt their cap situation. Per Over The Cap, cutting him will save the team $820,000 in cap space and just leave them with just over $206,000 in dead money.
The Bears could decide to re-sign Robertson-Harris to take over. He is a restricted free agent so they can match any offer if a team signs him to an offer sheet. Another option, though, is promoting Bilal Nichols to start. Nichols backed Hicks up in 2018 and did a great job. He had 28 tackles, three sacks and two forced fumbles in his rookie campaign. ESPN had him on their 2018 All-Rookie Team.
The draft is deep with defensive ends so the Bears can pick a prospect there and have him take Nichols’ spot in the rotation. Whatever happens in the offseason, I predict Bullard will wear another uniform in 2019.