Chicago Bears decline to match Cameron Meredith offer sheet
The Chicago Bears declined to match Cameron Meredith’s offer sheet, meaning he will sign with the New Orleans Saints
The Chicago Bears knew that entering free agency that there was a very real chance the team could lose Cameron Meredith. They saw this come to full circle today as the team decided to decline a two-year, $10 million deal.
Chicago’s decision to not match offer sheet that WR Cameron Meredith signed with the Saints was mainly a medical decision. Meredith is coming off a torn ACL and MCL, and Bears were hesitant to commit that much to a player coming off such a serious knee injury.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) April 11, 2018
There were some who were ready to defend Ryan Pace for his handling of this situation, but now that the team has declined to match the offer sheet, it is very clear that this was a blunder from the very start for Pace.
Pace could have brought Cameron Meredith back on a one-year, $2.9 million deal had he designated Meredith with a second round tender. If any team wanted to beat that deal, they would have had to have traded a second round pick to the Bears. No one would have done that, securing that Meredith is not only a Bear, but a Bear at a much cheaper price and with less years attached than the deal they just declined.
They let Cameron Meredith outbid themselves.
The worst case scenario of signing Meredith to a one-year deal on a second round tender is he gets hurt. The team does not get his services and gets nothing in return. That is the outcome that just happened.
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A bad case scenario is Meredith has a career year, and the Bears now have to pay him more than $5 million in 2019. Considering that today it is a fact the Bears would not pay that to Meredith, him being able to prove he is worth that on the field is not necessarily a bad thing considering he is doing that in 2018 with a Bears uniform on.
On top of that, even if Meredith did out play his market in 2018 and landed himself a huge deal in 2019, if the Bears passed on extending him in 2019, they would get a 2020 compensatory pick. Now? No return.
There is no way around this one, the Bears could have had a cheap starter with no risk and more reward than they currently got.