Quintin Demps First Year Analysis

The Chicago Bears brought in free agent safety Quintin Demps last season in hopes of helping out their ailing safety position. How did he do and will he be back in 2018?

The Chicago Bears made a serious attempt to try to fix their secondary last year, through free agency, by bringing in three guys they thought could help. Those three guys were Prince Amukamara, Marcus Cooper and the subject of this article, Quintin Demps.

Demps has been in the league nine years before coming the Bears had some issues with injury and hadn’t played all that often in some of his NFL seasons. However, his last two with the Houston Texans were solid and better than the seasons of all of the Bears safeties up until that point. He had six interceptions and was a tackling machine. The Bears thought that he would thrive in their defense.

His training camp was smooth. He earned the starting job at strong safety, supplanting Adrian Amos and made it appear as if the Bears were going to have a strong and solid playmaker at the position. But through three games, it was clear to see that Demps wasn’t the player that they thought he would be. He had problems tackling, his coverage skills were poor, and he broke down at critical moments in games.

Chicago may not have accounted for the one thing that would turn the benefits of having Demps in the lineup into sour grapes. That was his getting injured. After three games, Demps went on injured reserve with a broken forearm and never saw the field again in 2017. They had designated him as being able to return from injured reserve later in the season, but they never brought him back.

Chicago Bears

Three games. That’s all they got out of him in 2017.

In those three games, Demps had 12 total tackles with 11 solo and one assisted. He had no turnovers or passes defended.

What should the Bears do with Demps in 2018? His contract was a three-year deal which has an out after one year. That would pay him $4,906,250 and if they were to cut him, would leave the Bears with just $666,667 in dead cap space.

With both Eddie Jackson and Amos playing well, it’s hard to imagine Demps cracking the lineup again unless someone gets injured. Chicago could keep him around for another year and see what he can do as a backup but with his age and his being prone to injuries, the Bears may choose to move on. It all depends on where they want to spend their time and money. Demps won’t get paid to sit on the bench. He would make starter’s money if the Bears were to keep him so he would need to be on the field.

The ultimate question is, will Demps be back in 2018? The Bears could cut him and save some money to bring in a backup. Or they could keep him one more season. But just how much does Demps have left in the tank? Can he stay healthy and will he be effective? My gut feeling is that the Bears will save some money and cut him. He’s probably done in the league anyway. They will bring in some other, younger talent to compete at the position.

So you may expect Demps to ride off into the sunset as his NFL career comes to a close. It’s too bad that he didn’t pan out with the Bears. He came in and may leave in a manner that former Chicago Bear safety Antrelle Rolle did. But it won’t be as “messy.” Chalk this one up to as a learning experience for the Bears. They will try to do better next time.