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Per Ian Rapoport’s latest tweet, the Chicago Bears are likely to move on from offensive tackle Bobby Massie.
The #Bears are not likely to exercise the option on OT Bobby Massie’s contract, another casualty of the cap crunch, source said. He’ll be a FA, saving them more than $5M vs. the cap & putting a starting caliber tackle on the market in a year when OTs are more valuable than ever.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 8, 2021
Massie, now 31, has struggled with injury issues (missing 14 games in the last two seasons) and runs of poor play in his last two Bears seasons, so this move doesn’t come as a surprise. His “release” would clear $5.4M from the 2021 salary cap and bring the team closer to even with the projected 2021 salary cap, though no official cap number has been released yet.
With Massie gone, the Bears will look to add one (if not two) new offensive tackles through either free agency, the draft, or both. Whether left tackle Charles Leno (whose contract could free up similar cap space to Massie) will be released or not remains to be seen, but because the Bears’ draft resources are seemingly in flux (due to looming QB trades) the team may choose to keep him on the roster for the 2021 season. Only time will tell.
Are you surprised by Massie’s release? What other cuts do you expect the Bears to make?