5 Players the Bears Must Consider Cutting in the Offseason
By Todd Welter
![](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_2436,h_1370,x_0,y_0/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/258/01hkqznf04g0x4xwqtz9.jpg)
Cody Whitehair
The veteran offensive lineman found himself on the bench at one point in 2023. He was supposed to be the starting center, but Teven Jenkins' training camp injury forced him to go back to guard.
Once Whitehair moved back to center, he could not do the job's basic function of snapping the ball. He was not very good at playing guard this season either. He finished with a Pro Football Focus grade of 45. That is bad, really bad.
Cody carries a $13.25 million cap hit and is 32. He was the swing guard at one point this season. The Bears have Ja'Tyre Carter on his rookie deal to serve that role. The Bears can get $9 million in cap savings by cutting Whitehair with a dead cap number of $4 million.
Nate Davis
He was one of last offseason's big free agent signings for the Chicago Bears. An injury and a death in the family limited his participation in training camp. He then spent the beginning of the season trying to get into game shape.
The problem was he never played well when he was in shape. Davis finished with a 52.9 PFF grade.
Hopefully that’s the last game we see Nate Davis in a Bears uniform.
— Clinton Cole (@cdcole55) January 7, 2024
No wonder the interior of the line was bad outside of Jenkins. Cutting Davis is probably not going to happen this offseason since it would be an $11 million dead cap hit and minimal cap savings. That is probably the only thing saving his roster spot.
At the very least, the Chicago Bears need to bring in some competition for him. Hopefully, that will spark him to get back to being the player that earned him a rich free-agent deal.