Lucas becomes 2nd Bears player to opt out of 2020 season
Safety Jordan Lucas became the second Chicago Bears player to opt out of the 2020 season, the team announced Monday.
Nose tackle Eddie Goldman opted out last week with a designation as high risk for complications from COVID-19.
Lucas hasn’t played a snap with the Bears. The fifth-year NFL veteran signed a one-year, $1 million deal in March after two seasons apiece with the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs.
Lucas was asked in June what it would take for him to feel safe playing during the coronavirus pandemic.
“I feel like everyone taking it seriously — that’s just around the world — which I know is not going to happen right now,” he said. “Because you see people going out, still partying, this and that. (There’s) all this media coverage of the (social injustice) protests, but a lot of people are forgetting about coronavirus still. It’s a real thing. It’s still killing. It’s still affecting a lot of people.
“I’ve been taking it serious as far as the quarantine goes, my family has. And really I’m less worried about me, more worried about my son and my wife. So we’re just trying to stay as safe as possible.”
Lucas has started only four games in his career, all of them in 2018 with the Chiefs, but he is an experienced special teams player and was expected to contribute in that phase for the Bears. He wasn’t likely to start at safety as Tashaun Gipson and Deon
Bush are expected to compete for that role alongside Eddie Jackson.
“He’s a player that has speed,” special teams coordinator Chris Tabor said of Lucas in June. “He’s played in a lot of different spots. … He played in a lot of critical positions. He adds depth and ability into our room. I’m excited about having him because he has flexibility and he’s a good football player and you can’t have enough of those guys. And he takes a lot of pride in it, so that’s going to be big for us.”
Bears general manager Ryan Pace and coach Matt Nagy spoke last week after Goldman opted out and said they fully supported his decision. Pace said then he couldn’t say whether the Bears would see more players take the season off.
Players who opt out under the high-risk category receive a $350,000 stipend, while other players receive $150,000, considered a salary advance for 2021. Their contracts toll to the 2021 season.
The list of NFL players to opt out is now more than 40, including eight New England Patriots players.
“It’s such an individual decision, such a personal decision that we’re very respectful of,” Pace said. “So I really can’t answer (whether more players will opt out). But what I can say is I’m confident when our players get here and they see what we’ve done as a staff to the facility, using our entire footprint, I think it’s going to give a lot of confidence to our players and staff. And it should because we’ve taken all the measures we can to make sure everybody feels really good about what we’re doing.”
The Bears also announced Monday they activated defensive tackle John Jenkins and tight end Eric Saubert from the COVID-19/ reserve list, which is used for players who either have tested positive for the coronavirus or have been around someone who has tested positive.
The Bears no longer have any players on the COVID-19/reserve list after activating running back Artavis Pierce on Sunday. They waived running back Napoleon Maxwell on Sunday and offensive lineman Dino Boyd on Monday to make room for the returns of Jenkins, Saubert and Pierce.