Chicago Bears stay or go: Deon Bush
Should the Chicago Bears keep Deon Bush or let him walk in free agency?
As the Chicago Bears head into the 2020 offseason they need to decide on some key free agents this year. One of them is Deon Bush. Bush got some work in the NFL as a rookie as the season was lost, and looked like a rookie in those snaps.
Bush played just 86 defensive snaps in his second NFL season but took a big step forward as a special teams asset in 2017. In 2018, when Eddie Jackson went down, the team called on Bush. They lost in the playoffs with him as a starter, and it can be argued there was a drop-off. Still, they went 2-0 in the regular season without Jackson, and Bush played well in his three starts.
In 2019, Bush was back to a limited player, logging 67 snaps while improving on special teams.
Is this enough to be re-signed?
Stay
Bush is 26 years old. He has proven that he can play in the box, and can play free safety as a backup. He can play in dime if needed. Beyond that, he has special teams value. This is a player the Bears known and trust.
He may see some noise on the market, but he should come cheap. There is no reason to let him walk over a million dollars or so.
Go
There are teams excited about the eight games that Nick Kwiatkoski started in, but if they look into Deon Bush, who has played half as many career snaps, they may see a similar idea in that a starter is hidden behind depth in Chicago. There is value in bringing back a player you know, but there is a certain price where you would have to move on.
Beyond that, it is not like Chuck Pagano is the most familiar with him, Vic Fangio and John Fox drafted him. Pagano did not use him often, and may not see as much value as Fangio did.
Next. Mock Draft 1.0. dark
Bush is a special teams asset but was behind DeAndre Houston-Carson, Joel Iyiegbuniwe, and Kevin Pierre-Louis. DHC is going to come much cheaper and brings as much if not more special teams value. If Bush is not going to impact the defense as a sub-package player, the better value may be re-signing DHC and letting Bush walk.