Bears cut Davis to gain pick; so what’s plan at running back?
The Bears’ $3 million plan to utilize Mike Davis never came to fruition, and now the running back gets to take the money and find an opportunity elsewhere while the team looks set to end a decade-long drought of not having a compensatory draft pick.
The Bears cut Davis, 26, Saturday morning.
In doing so, they could wind up netting a fourth-round compensatory pick in April, largely because of the loss of safety Adrian Amos to the Packers in free agency. Had the club kept Davis, who signed a $6 million, two-year contract in March, through Sunday’s game against the Lions, he would have counted against it in the formula used to distribute compensatory picks.
Davis heads to the waiver wire and likely will be claimed by another team Monday. Nothing figures to change game-plan-wise for the Bears, who weren’t doing much with him anyway. He played only 71 snaps on offense and 45 on special teams. Davis had 11 carries for 25 yards and caught six passes (seven targets) for 17 yards.
With Davis a nonfactor on Sundays, it only made sense for the Bears to release him to net a draft pick. The Bears have only two picks in the first four rounds of the 2020 draft — both in Round 2: their own and the one belonging to the Raiders). They’re without first-, third- and fourth-round picks, so any additional draft capital general manager Ryan Pace can add will help.
What’s surprising is the team clearly had a plan for Davis when it signed him at the outset of free agency. Davis received a $2 million signing bonus, and his base salary was $1 million.
In comparison, Eagles running back Jordan Howard — the former Bear — is earning $2.025 million this season. Davis’ signing bonus means he will count $1 million against the Bears’ 2020 salary cap.
“Just know I am going to be very happy once the season starts,” Davis said in June when he was asked how backfield carries would be distributed. “I just can’t wait till we kill it with me, Reek (Tarik Cohen) and
David (Montgomery).”
The Steelers made a similar move with wide receiver Donte Moncrief, releasing him before last weekend to improve their standing in the compensatory-draft-pick formula. Moncrief had signed a two-year, $9 million contract in Pittsburgh but quickly fizzled. The Steelers determined they’would be better off with a compensatory pick in April than another 1½ seasons with Moncrief.
The NFL awards 32 compensatory picks each year based on the net gains/losses clubs have in free agency. The Bears last received a compensatory pick in 2009, the longest active stretch without one in the league.