Chicago Bears: 3 Veterans In Danger of Getting Cut This Offseason

This offseason the Chicago Bears have a lot of new faces on the roster. As they head into training camp and preseason games, some veterans have to go. Here are three possible candidates.

The Chicago Bears are in rebuild mode. There is a new regime and a new coaching staff. In addition, there are a lot of new faces on the roster.

With new general manager Ryan Poles making the changes, things will start to be radically different. He’s hoping to bring back the winning and make it consistent. That means some veterans have to go. Here are three of them who likely see the chopping block as the offseason progresses.

Dakota Dozier, OL

Dozier hasn’t played a down for the Chicago Bears yet but he shouldn’t. Yes, he is a new player that Poles signed this offseason, but I hope to God that this is just as a training camp body. To have him actually compete for a starting spot says a lot about how bad things are on the offensive line.

Dozier played every snap of the 2020 season for the Minnesota Vikings. That was plenty of action for the coaching staff to make a decision on him. Their decision was to keep him away from the offensive line, and the regular team. In 2020, he gave up six sacks and 46 (!) pressures to go with nine penalties. He even tackled his own quarterback at one point! As a result, he spent all but six games on the practice squad. In the six games he played, none were on offense.

Dozier shouldn’t fill a roster spot let alone a starting spot.

Duke Shelley, CB

There were high hopes for Duke Shelley when the Bears drafted him in 2019. He hasn’t lived up to those hopes, however. The coaches increased his playing time on defense every year, but he hasn’t impacted.

In his rookie season, he wasn’t targeted. In his next two seasons, however, opposing quarterbacks completed 76.2 percent of their passes when targeting him. Those quarterbacks also had passer ratings of 100+ in each of those two seasons.

Shelley’s missed tackles were also a problem. He had a missed tackle rate of 5.9 percent in 2020. That rate doubled to 11.9 percent. Because of the missed tackles, he gave up 246 yards after the catch.

This offseason, Poles made a concerted effort to improve the secondary. He brought in Tavon Young and drafted Kyler Gordon. Add in Jaylon Johnson, Thomas Graham Jr. Kindle Vildor, and Lamar Jackson. That is a lot of competition for Shelley. Johnson, Gordon, and Young are sure to make the team. That leaves one, or maybe two, others to make the squad. It doesn’t look good for Shelley.

Mario Edwards, Jr. DL

Mario Edwards Jr. was a starter early in his career. He started 24 of his first 30 career games. Since then, however, he started just one of his last 56 games.

Edwards has been serviceable in a rotation with the Chicago Bears. He has 25 tackles (7 for loss), 6 sacks, and even defended 2 passes. However, he doesn’t make the impact needed.

One of the biggest things with new head coach Matt Eberflus is his HITS principle. HITS stands for Hustle, Intensity, Takeaways, and Smart.

Edwards has some trouble with a couple of those aspects. He seems to take some plays off so hustle and intensity aren’t always there. In addition, the smarts aren’t there. In the past couple of seasons, he’s committed some boneheaded mistakes that cost the Bears points. He committed personal foul penalties that extended the opponents’ drives and ended up with points. Eberflus just doesn’t stand for that.

Moreover, Edwards has gotten in legal trouble with domestic violence allegations. This is too much trouble for the Bears to deal with from a player who doesn’t make an impact on the field.