Chicago Bears Roster: 5 big mistakes Ryan Pace will regret
By Ryan Heckman
Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace will regret not cutting Jimmy Graham
Yet another move the Bears could have made rather than cutting Fuller would have been to let go of veteran tight end Jimmy Graham. But, the Bears will watch Graham count $10 million against their cap this season as their no. 2 tight end behind second-year pro Cole Kmet.
If the Bears’ plan all along was to bump Kmet into the starting role, why keep Graham with that kind of salary? Had Pace cut ties with Graham, the Bears would have saved $7 million against the cap.
What do you know? If Graham was cut and the Bears never signed Dalton, it sure seems like they could have afforded to keep Fuller on the roster. After all is said and done, Pace basically chose to have Graham and Dalton over an All Pro cornerback — that’s a big yikes.
Graham’s salary looks especially bad now that the team has Jesse James, who looked phenomenal in camp and preseason, along with veteran Jesper Horsted. Do the Bears really need Graham? Absolutely not. At this point, they would be just fine without him. Yet, here we are.