Did Lucas Patrick play his last snap with Chicago Bears?

The Chicago Bears announced that Lucas Patrick will be out for the season, as he has surgery on his toe. This ends a season that has largely been a disappointment from the preseason on. To be fair to Patrick, most of it has been injury related, but you have to wonder if this was it for his time with the Chicago Bears.

Will Chicago Bears cut Lucas Patrick this offseason?

The Chicago Bears signed Lucas Patrick to a two-year contract, but Patrick and the team both had a realization that it would be one year based on the way it was structured. If Patrick played well, the team would have been incentivized to extend him. If he did not, the structure makes it easy to move on.

The team would save roughly $4M in cap space by moving on from Patrick. While the team has plenty of space, if they do not trust him to stay healthy, this is an easy decision. Still, because the biggest issue has been his health, it is still up for debate as to whether he would be a good fit.

Beyond that, the team signed him to play center, and he never actually played center. A hand injury caused him to play guard, the Cody Whitehair injury caused him to stay at guard, and once he got into center, he got hurt.

If we are judging just based on his play at guard, the team would probably be moving on this offseason. If they still think that he can step in and start at center down the line, they may hold onto him at the one-year, $5M deal that he is currently tied to.

The team may even ask him to shave some off, knowing he probably will not get that type of money on the open market after this season.

So, to answer the question, it is probably about money. If Patrick comes back for less, it is much more likely. At his current salary, and with the outs the Chicago Bears have that could save them salary cap space, he probably end his time with the team.

Even if the Bears do bring him back, they have to look at center as a hole and view Patrick as competition or depth at the position.