The Chicago Bears were going into March with some of the lowest cap space in the NFL. Barely $13 million. Given the number of needs across the roster and several players they need to work on keeping, it stood to reason that they were going to make some moves in order to secure more money. Right on cue, Adam Schefter of ESPN revealed that both wide receiver Taylor Gabriel and cornerback Prince Amukamara have been released.
Neither can be considered a huge surprise. Amukamara is in his 30s now and regressed last season. He failed to record a single interception and battled leg injuries towards the end of the year. Gabriel had a problem with dropped passes and then dealt with some concerning concussion issues. By releasing them, the Bears secured themselves an additional $13.5 million in cap space. This should put them somewhere around $26 million together with the rollover cap from last year.
Still not a lot but enough to start making certain in-house moves.
Chicago Bears rumors all but guaranteed this move
A couple of days ago it was reported that the Bears were planning to make speed wide receivers and defensive backs a top priority at the scouting combine in Indianapolis. That was a dead giveaway that they were probably going to cut ties with Gabriel and Amukamara. Chicago badly needs more speed in general on offense. Gabriel had his explosive moments but never seemed like the true speed threat they needed him to be.
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With Amukamara gone, the Bears have a collection of Kevin Toliver, Tre Roberson, and Duke Shelley looking like options across from Kyle Fuller at cornerback. Not exactly an ideal situation. That is why expectations are they’ll make some sort of move at cornerback over the next two and a half months.
