Bears Offseason Notes: Week 1
3.) Patriots Trade LB Jon Bostic to the Lions
The Bears traded former 2nd round pick Jon Bostic to the Patriots last season for a 6th round pick. After a wildly unsuccessful season in New England (1 tackle total), the Pats gave up Bostic as well and dealt him to the Lions for a 7th round pick. Good luck with that Lions. I just hope Bostic starts against the Bears so they can take advantage of Bostic’s incompetence in coverage. Maybe the Pats will have more luck with Bears castoff Shea McClellin (hahaha).
4.) All Draft Picks Signed Except Floyd, Bullard
The Bears have signed all of their draft picks except first rounder Leonard Floyd and third rounder Jonathan Bullard. Neither player is expected to be a troublesome signing.
5.) Bears Add Return Specialist Derek Keaton to the Roster
I covered all but one of the Bears undrafted free agents in my initial UDFA breakdown, but they added one more player this week in return specialist Derek Keaton from Georgia Southern. Keaton is undersized (5’10, 180) but was a dangerous return specialist in college who lead the Sun Belt conference with a 15.3 punt return average and finished 2nd in kick return average with 26.5 yards per return.
Keaton was named first team All-Sun Belt as a return specialist. He doesn’t bring much to the table as a receiver with only four receptions last season, but Keaton has a legit shot to win a job as a return man with the Bears.
6.) Bears lose Scouting Director, Joe Douglas, to Eagles
The Bears had initially declined the Cleveland Browns attempt to interview scouting director Joe Douglas, but ultimately allowed him to interview and then sign with the Philadelphia Eagles. Douglas had been part of the Ravens staff for 15 years before joining the Bears last May and lasted just about a full season before leaving this week to join the Eagles staff to run both their pro and college scouting departments.
To replace Douglas the Bears promoted senior national scout Mark Sadowski to the position. Sadowski (a St. Rita alum) has been with the Bears organization since 2005, originally signed as a Southeast area scout by Jerry Angelo.
7.) Matt Slauson Signed with Chargers
I’ll end this week’s update with the worse news of the offseason so far, the Bears release of veteran guard Matt Slauson. I’ve already written at length how I felt about letting Slauson go. In short, I don’t understand it or like it, despite the drafting of a capable replacement in Cody Whitehair.
Understandably, other NFL teams jumped all over Slauson and in his second team visit, he signed with the San Deigo Chargers for a two year deal. The terms of the deal haven’t been released yet, but the Bolts plan on using Slauson at center.
He started three games at the position for the Bears last year and more than held his own and will fill give the Chargers some stability at the center position that has been a major problem spot since Nick Hardwick got hurt. I’m hoping the Bears won’t miss Slauson, but my gut tells me they will.