The Chicago Bears are finally expected to cut ties with Pernell McPhee after three long years of mediocrity. Originally inked to a five-year deal, McPhee failed to play a 16 game season while in Chicago and struggled on the field the past two years. The time has come for Ryan Pace to once again lick his free agency wounds and move on.
McPhee is on the books for over $7 million in 2018 and is currently expected to join Mike Glennon on the Bears’ cut list. Glennon also represents a huge free agency mistake by Pace, but we’ll come back to that.
After churning out 53 tackles, six sacks and three pass deflections in his first season with Chicago, McPhee has been woefully unproductive since. He has failed to stay healthy and didn’t even manage to start a single game in 2016. Let me repeat that, he didn’t start ONE GAME in 2016.
Some might read that and immediately think that was unpredictable, and we would immediately disagree. Let’s rewind back to 2015.
Here is an excerpt from the NFL.com article originally announcing the signing:
“More than a few Ravens role players have been overpaid as marginal starters elsewhere, but the sense is that McPhee — who has never topped 616 snaps in a season — is just entering the prime of his career.”
Focus heavily on the bolded section. There were several concerns over McPhee’s knee when arriving in Chicago and those concerns heightened when competent people realized why Baltimore was letting him get away. McPhee was a clear injury risk so Baltimore limited his snaps to keep him healthy three out of the four seasons he spent there. However, when coming to the Bears, everything changed.
In his first season in Chicago, McPhee played 629 snaps which immediately exceeded his highest total in Baltimore. That may be why he only played in 14 games.
In 2016, he only played 291 snaps and failed to start a game, as we said.
In 2017, McPhee played 393 snaps.
As you can clearly see, Baltimore had the recipe for success. Keeping McPhee at, or around, 600 snaps was ideal to keep him healthy. History showed that. Pace was responsible for exceeding that total right away, and that eventually resulted in three years of health issues.
Losing McPhee’s production wasn’t the only issue this created.
The Bears realized how fragile McPhee was early on, so they spent their first round pick in 2016 on another OLB, Leonard Floyd. Had McPhee become the full-time player he was expected to be this pick likely would have been a CB. Considering that scenario, maybe Pace was aiming for a dominate Floyd/McPhee combo?
In Mel Kiper’s 2018 Mock Draft 2.0, Chicago is once again predicted to take an OLB, Tremaine Edmunds. Edmunds is a great athlete with lots of versatility, but with McPhee’s cut looming it will force the Bears to, once again, spend a high pick to solidify their pass rush.
Unfortunately for Pace, Chicago is a long way from solidifying anything. Floyd has already missed 10 games in his first two seasons making him unreliable to say the least.
According to Sports Illustrated, McPhee was ranked as the 12th best free agent in the 2015 class. In their description of him it read “low mileage and still young.” This made McPhee’s knee issue sound positive, but failed to reference that Baltimore had kept him on a monitored snap count since he joined the league. Had they considered that, it likely would have dropped him down the list. This list loses even more credibility when you factor in their #11 selection, Jason Worilds, who retired before starting the 2015 season.
December 10, 2015 – ESPN – “The outside linebacker’s inaugural season in Chicago has been a successful one, but a bothersome knee injury has curtailed his effectiveness.”
This quote indicates McPhee’s knee was “bothersome” throughout his first year in Chicago proving his injury concerns in Baltimore were very real and came with him. If he was healthy, the Ravens never would have let him leave. Unfortunately, the Bears were apparently the only ones who didn’t know this, that lead to surgery in early 2017.
Sounds incredibly familiar to the Kevin White situation.
McPhee signed a 5 year, $38,750,000 contract with the Chicago Bears, including a $2,500,000 signing bonus, $15,500,000 guaranteed, and an average annual salary of $7,750,000. He never played one full season.
The moral of this story is clear, Pace took a gamble and lost. The same thing that happened with Mike Glennon, Ray McDonald, Eddie Royal, Jerrell Freeman and Bobbie Massie. One would have to believe the Bears rewarded Pace an extension through 2021 for his success in the draft because his failures in free agency are evident.
If the Chicago Bears are going to rebuild their entire team through the draft then it’s going to take a very long time. This makes the next two seasons crucial for Pace to finally hit in free agency and get Mitch Trubisky the help he needs. With Akiem Hicks as his only claim to fame, Pace is going to need a drastic turn around in the free agency market to get this team back on track.
