There’s no getting around the facts this year. The Chicago Bears cornerback push this offseason was, for the most part, a failure. Just look at their two primary acquisitions to this point. Prince Amukamara is already set to miss the first game of the year with an ankle injury. Marcus Cooper had problems with his hamstring early in the preseason. Nothing about the two signings feels good at this point.
Sure things can change. It’s a long season. Nonetheless it feels every bit like the initial reaction a few months back: that the Bears settled for second-rate additions. Top options like Stephon Gilmore and A.J. Bouye spurned them in favor of teams offering more money. This of course brought heat down on GM Ryan Pace for being too cheap.
Fair or not it was a bit of a black eye for the Bears front office. Thus the question should be asked. If given a second chance, would they be more aggressive? Well some incentive is set to be thrown out there as bait.
Bears cornerback issue could have a solution coming in Malcolm Butler
Malcolm Butler has somehow gone from street free agent to Super Bowl hero to Pro Bowl star in the space of just a couple years. The 27-year old now has two rings playing for the New England Patriots and is gunning for a third. Whether he gets it or not is immaterial at this point. It’s clear that Butler will become a rich man in 2018.
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The key will be whether the Patriots are the team to pay him. According to Ian Rapoport of NFL.com, that is no longer a likely scenario.
This was reinforced by the heavy rumors that the Patriots were trying to trade Butler in the offseason. They failed initially but still have until November to get a deal done. Unfortunately the price is almost certain to drop the longer they way. So odds are he’ll become a free agent, get paid and they’ll settle for a third round compensatory pick.
This is great news for the Bears. Early estimates are they’ll have over $52 million in cap space in 2018 with the ability to create even more. In other words they will have the cash to spend if they wish. All signs indicate this team has stars in the making up front with Leonard Floyd, Akiem Hicks and Eddie Goldman. They’re missing that cover corner who can match up man-to-man on the outside.
Okay this is just the Jets being the Jets but still a nice play from Malcolm Butler 😂 pic.twitter.com/bHzBrniJul
— LeOusmane DeMessi (@ChrisCreacy) June 26, 2017
Would it be worth overpaying a little bit to get him? As always that’s up for Pace to decide.
