The High Cost for the Bears of Finding a Tight End

So much time, money and effort have been devoted by the Bears to finding tight ends, and now they can only hope they've solved the situation with their new trio at the top

The Bears came to training camp last year thinking they had this tight end problem settled and give or take $20 million it's possible they have

They were so confident in their situation, they were even experimenting with tackle Bradley Sowell moving out to play tight end and dropping 30 pounds.

Sure, Trey Burton missed the playoff game loss with an unusual groin injury, but they had it solved by a sports hernia surgery. That's what they said.

And then a few days before facing Green Bay they let everyone know things weren't quite going the way they planned, after they'd nursed a slower Burton through training camp and preseason. Burton had another groin injury.

"This was an unrelated mild groin strain that we're dealing with right now," GM Ryan Pace said at the time. "So we're hopeful but it's going to be a day-by-day thing."

Adam Shaheen was going to be healthy and play. They always plan for Shaheen to be healthy and play.

Ben Braunecker was a special teams guy and backup who had been around three years. They brought in a few undrafted prospects like Ian Bunting, Ellis Richardson, Dax Raymond and moved Jesper Horsted from wide receiver to tight end.

On Thursday, they cut Braunecker. It was simply one more move in a tumultuous, expensive roster turnover since last year's plan fell completely apart.

He's on the books for $200,000 of dead cap money. According to Spotrac.com, they already had Burton on there for $5.75 million in dead cap after cutting him, before he signed with the Colts.

The Bears had $13.9 million of cap space devoted to tight ends last year, including $333,334 for Dion Sims, who officially just retired from football on May 1, after the Bears had retired themselves from him in November of 2018.

They brought in J.P. Holtz during last season and signed Eric Saubert during the season, as well, just so they could finish out the season. Burton suffered a groin injury after failing to fully recover from his groin problems, and went on the injured list. Braunecker (concussion) and Shaheen (foot) ended it there, as well.

Coach Matt Nagy regards this as a critical position. For the $13.9 million they spent last year, they got 46 catches, 416 yards and two touchdown catches.

There were 12 tight ends in the NFL last year who had more catches than the Bears got from all of their tight ends combined. There were 21 tight ends who had more receiving yards than all of the Bears tight ends put together. There were 32 tight ends who had more touchdown catches than all of the Bears tight ends put together.

It's been a confluence of misjudged talent, injuries, and injuries upon injuries, all leading to free agency and the draft.

To correct the situation, they've devoted $19.639 million more this year to the position, including $6 million for aging free agent Jimmy Graham. Of course not all of that money will eat up cap space because some of those tight ends will be cut and don't have guaranteed salaries.

The faces at the top are different, with Cole Kmet and Demetrius Harris at the Y tight end and Graham at U tight end.

They'll move forward now without Braunecker, hoping they've got the problem beat with eight tight ends still on the roster until they decide to cut more—or add someone for a few more dollars.

Bears Tight Ends

2020 Based on Devoted Cap Space

$6 million Jimmy Graham

$5.75 million Trey Burton

$1.37 million Cole Kmet

$1.65 million Demetrius Harris

$1.88 million Adam Shaheen

$829,000 Eric Saubert

$675,000 J.P. Holtz

$675,000 Jesper Horsted

$610,000 Darion Clark

$200,000 Ben Braunecker

$19,639,000

2019 Based on Devoted Cap Space

$8.55 million Burton

$1.611 million Shaheen

$1.018 million Braunecker

$1.69 million Bradley Sowell

$465,888 Holtz

$193,706 Saubert

$333,334 Dion Sims

$11,666 Ian Bunting

$1,500 Ellis Richardson

$13,902,152

Source: Spotrac.com

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