Chicago Bears dodged bullet not re-signing Bryce Callahan

Overreacting after only one week of football is easy to do. We saw it after the Chicago Bears horrible Week 1 performance, and I am about to do it again now.

The Chicago Bears lost two main guys this offseason from their unbelievably talented defense. First was Adrain Amos who went to the Packers on a big contract and has proven himself to their fandom by intercepting a poor decision by Mitchell Trubisky on 3rd and 10 late in the game last week. The second was Bryce Callahan, who went onto join Vic Fangio’s Denver Broncos.

I have already explained how Ha Ha Clinton-Dix is a better addition than the subtraction of Amos. Now, as the Bears prepare to take on the Denver Broncos, I must note how they clearly dodged a bullet by not re-signing Callahan. Callahan was an undrafted free agent coming out of college. He worked his way onto the Bears active roster and was their starting nickel corner in 2018.

Callahan made some exceptional plays last season. That said, he has always had a problem staying on the field. Availability is the most important ability for an athlete. No matter how talented a player might be, if he cannot be on the field during a game, he is essentially worthless. Over his four-year career with the Bears, Callahan never played in more than 13 games.

He missed the end of last season with a broken foot and had surgery this offseason. My overreaction could be that Callahan could still have a productive season in Fangio’s defense. Rumors are out that he might not play against the Bears this week and he has a questionable tag going into Sunday. However, if he becomes healthy and actually plays in a decent amount of games, then he could prove me wrong.

Breaking it down further, Callahan signed a three-year, $21 million contract with Denver this offseason. That is a lot of cash for a guy who has hardly played over the span of his career. As sad as it was to see Callahan go, not paying him all that money looks to be the right move. Callahan did not play last week and as I mentioned, probably will not play this week.

Buster Skrine, on the other hand, signed a three-year, $16.5 million contract with the Bears as a replacement for Callahan. Skrine has proven to be relatively durable throughout his career. Not only did Chicago find a cheaper replacement for Callahan, it looks like they made the right choice as Callahan continues to miss time due to injury.

Even if Bryce Callahan is a superior talent to Buster Skrine, if he cannot play for the Broncos, Skrine automatically proves to be more important and valuable for the Bears in 2019. We will keep an eye on this, but as of now, this is another win for Ryan Pace and the Chicago Bears organization.