Ryan Pace: Didn’t make sense to match Cam Meredith offer
The Chicago Bears feel good about where they stand on the Cameron Meredith decision
When the Chicago Bears let go of Cameron Meredith, it was met with some criticism. Some questioned how General Manager Ryan Pace would remedy what quickly became a huge hole at wide receiver and some questioned if Pace understood how the Restricted Free Agent process works.
However, in a recent discussion with Dan Pompei of the Athletic, Ryan Pace showed extreme confidence in his understanding and decision making in this situation.
"“Based on what we did in the offseason and what we could do in the draft, it didn’t make sense for us to match the offer,” Pace told me. “The receiver position is one you can overhaul pretty quickly, and we tried to do that. Cam was a good player and a big hit for us, and I hope he does really well, honestly.”"
Of course, it is fair to mention that at the time of the decision, the team had done nothing in the draft. In fact, the Anthony Miller did not even belong to the Chicago Bears when they made the decision on Cameron Meredith.
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A lot of the skepticism surrounding the decision to let Meredith walk was around the idea that the roster had other holes, and wide receiver may not be the best bet with their two top 40 picks.
However, adding a second pick in the mid 40s and turning that into Anthony Miller does change the dynamic.
You can argue it was a bold strategy to go into the draft banking on the idea that they could pull off a trade for Anthony Miller in the second round.
At the same time, the Bears were doing their homework, and likely did have an understanding of what they could get and when they could get it.
The team met with Calvin Ridley, Courtland Sutton, James Washington and Miller. There are reports the team was in on trading up for Calvin Ridley.
Sutton and Washington went in the second round along with Miller. The team also met with Trey Quinn, Equanimeous St. Brown, and Deon Cain, who were drafted in the middle rounds.
The team likely knew they were going to trade a future pick for one of these receivers. The way that the board broke saw Miller wearing a Bears uniform.