Chicago Bears free agency: Cuts Bears should make to increase cap space
Bobby Massie, Cap savings: ($5.03 million)
The Chicago Bears made a small move by signing Eric Kush. With Kyle Long, Josh Sitton, and Cody Whitehair, the team has a very strong interior line. Kush adds some depth.
Where the team needs help is on the outside. The Bears signed Bobby Massie to move Long back over to his natural inside guard slot. He struggled through a good portion of the season, however. He did get better towards the end of the season, but he is an average tackle at best.
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Hroniss Grasu looks to be over his ACL injury. Pace indicated that he’d like to see Grasu back at center. If so, Whitehair could move over to tackle.
“That would be a good problem for us to have,” Pace said. “If there’s one thing I learned this season it’s that you can’t have enough depth, especially on your offensive line. I view Hroniss more of a center-only. If he comes back, that’d be the position he’s competing for. If Hroniss is playing like a solid NFL starting center and gets to that level, which I think he can, that’s a good problem.
“We have flexibility with other guys. Cody Whitehair is a flexible guy and Kyle is too. We’ll see how it shakes out, but if [Grasu] is at a starter level, that’ll sort out to get the five best on the field.”
Massie signed a three-year, $18 million contract last offseason. This was one of the cleverly designed contracts that help the team. He’s scheduled to earn $6.03 million in 2017, but if the Bears cut ties with him, they only have $1 million in dead money count against the cap.
That will certainly make Pace think about hitting the open market. He’ll also probably draft a lineman as well.