Aside from the panic around the unfounded Jordan Howard trade rumors, all eyes from Chicago Bears fans seem focused on the NFL draft. This isn’t a surprise. It’s three weeks away. Their team holds the #8 overall pick. GM Ryan Pace has traded in each of the last two drafts. The anticipation for what’s to come is staggering. That said the free agency storyline is incomplete. Most of the big moves by the Bears are over, sure. However, there are still some in-house moves left to make. By far the biggest is Cameron Meredith.
Most people have known the situation by now. Meredith is a former undrafted free agent who turned himself into a true playmaker in 2016. That year he led the Bears in receiving with 888 yards. Going into 2017 he looked poised for a breakout season. Then tragedy struck when he tore his ACL in the preseason game against Tennessee.
Since then the Bears have overhauled the wide receiver position. Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel both arrived via free agency. Kevin White is also returning from injury. Meredith’s status on the roster is a little more uncertain. That’s why the Bears chose to place an original tender tag on him as a restricted free agent. This means they’re free to match any offer made by another team to him. The question is will he accept any?
Cameron Meredith expected to make a decision soon
Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune is convinced the Bears will have an answer sooner than later. The deadline for restricted free agents to accept an offer sheet is just 15 days away. It’s unlikely the receiver will want to play it out to the end.
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“Meredith visited the Saints, Ravens, and Colts, and the deadline for restricted free agents to sign an offer sheet with another team is April 20. I don’t think Meredith’s situation necessarily drags out that long. If he’s going to get an offer sheet he wants to sign, that could happen in the next week or so.
This is a decision that isn’t based on his performance when he was healthy in 2016. Everyone likes Meredith and how he played that year. It’s a decision that is based on the medical evaluation of his knee. Those teams — and the Bears — must determine how confident they are in his knee and ability to bounce back and they have to place a dollar amount on that evaluation.”
All signs have pointed to the Bears wanting to keep Meredith. He’s still young and should be able to regain his old form provided he suffers no setbacks in rehab. If they could get that version of him combined with Robinson and Gabriel? That’s an exciting new receiving corps for Mitch Trubisky to play with.
This comes down to what Meredith wants to do. If he accepts an offer sheet it would be for a long-term deal that the Bears would likely match. Estimates have it being somewhere around $6-7 million a year. Meredith could take that, or he could bet on himself and play the season out on the one-year tender. He would then be an unrestricted free agent in 2019 and maybe get a much bigger payday.
