The Chicago Bears signed Damiere Byrd to a one-year deal after he had a career season with the New England Patriots. Things did not go quite as planned, and now a new regime is in town.
General Manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus will have plenty of decisions to make when it comes to the roster, and it starts with deciding what to do with players from the team last year.
Should they bring back Damiere Byrd, or let him walk?
Chicago Bears should re-sign Damiere Byrd
Everyone can agree that Byrd did not get a fair shake to build off of his 2020 season. The Matt Nagy offense was a disaster, and he never found ways to make adjustments. That meant that Byrd had a minimal role, as he failed to bring in new names.
Towards the end of the season, Byrd started to get going with Justin Fields. However, early in the year, the team was using him as a blocker instead of Jimmy Graham. Asking a wideout under 200 pounds to play the Jimmy Graham was unfair. He was a report with Fields and should be brought back to see if he can grow on his past year, without the coaches holding him back.
Chicago Bears should let Damiere Byrd go
What does he really bring to the offense? Sure, he is not the size of a tight end, but even in New England, he spent half of his snaps as a blocker. That is where they trusted his ability. So, Matt Nagy did not use him correctly, but Nagy and Josh McDaniels both agreed his best skill is blocking.
Every team needs one of those, but that is not a player you covet. That is a player that you find as a UDFA and tell him that he can block his way onto the roster. Beyond that, this player needs to have special teams value, and Byrd has not brought that to the table.
If another team wants him, that is fine. Otherwise, the Chicago Bears should at least wait until after the draft and see what kind of scrappy young blockers they could find that would be younger and cheaper than Damiere Byrd.