Chicago Bears: 5 Potential landing spots for Trey Burton and why it matters

The Chicago Bears released Trey Burton in hopes that he lands with another team soon. Depending on how things work out, Ryan Pace could save millions.

The Chicago Bears have 10 tight ends on the roster. Scratch that. They now have nine. Last week, Ryan Pace cut ties with Trey Burton. Clearly the team will not start the regular season with nine tight ends on the roster. That said, I was shocked that Trey Burton was the first to get the ax.

Right now, it is clear that Jimmy Graham is the starting tight end for the Bears in 2020. Now the question remains, who will be Graham’s backup? Right now, my early guess will be between J.P. Holtz or Demetrius Harris. Neither would truly be Graham’s backup. One of these two would take on the Y tight end role. Jesper Horsted is my best guess to be Graham’s true backup. That or Darion Clark. Clark is the mystery piece seeing he is new to the NFL and position.

These are the four I picture making the final roster behind Graham. This leaves Dax Raymond, Eric Saubert, Adam Shaheen and Ben Braunecker on the chopping block. Shaheen and Braunecker will be cut. Both save around $1 million each in salary cap room. Raymond will likely be the one to make the practice squad.

The first thought I had when hearing about the Chicago Bears cutting Trey Burton was why in the hell is Shaheen not the first to go? Well, it turns out that when the Bears signed Burton, he had language in his contract that allows the Bears to recoup salary cap space of up to $4 million dollars if he signs with another team. The team is already saving nearly $3 million for cutting him. This means Pace can save upwards of $7 million depending on how much Burton signs for.

This is why as Bears fans, we should be concerned with if Burton signs and how much he earns this season. Some of these landing spots re better than others.