Just one day after punting the football away on every single possession, the Chicago Bears are unloading players who do not fit their new scheme. The Bears are now 0-3 on the season after a 26-0 shutout to the Seattle Seahawks. Two defensive players have already been traded and sources say there could be even more to come.
First one to be dealt was outside linebacker Jared Allen to the Carolina Panthers for a 2016 sixth round pick. Allen will return to his natural position of defensive end. The Panthers were in need of a 4-3 defensive end after Charles Johnson will miss a couple games after injuring his hamstring against the New Orleans Saints in week 2.
Allenâs base salary this year is only $1M after the Bears paid him an $11.5M roster bonus earlier this year. The Panthers already added ex-Bear cornerback Charles Tillman to their roster during free agency. Panthers coach Ron Rivera said that they asked Tillman if Allen would fit in the locker room before the trade was finalized.
The Bears received another sixth round pick in their second trade of the day to the New England Patriots for linebacker Jon Bostic. Bostic was a second round pick of the Bears back in 2013 and could never lived up to his expectations from his college days at Florida.
It looks as if new GM Ryan Pace has accepted this as a transition year for the team after switching from a 4-3 to a 3-4 Hybrid defense. Players who didnât fit the new scheme were rumored to be on the trading block earlier in the preseason, but it seems that the asking prices on these players have come down quite a bit today. There are even talks of the Bear’s trading away Matt Forte next since he is in the last year of his contract.
