The Bears have made linebackers Sam Acho and Dan Skuta available for trade, according to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune (Twitter link).
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Chicago has a slight surplus at outside linebacker, as Leonard Floyd and Willie Young are the club’s projected starters while veteran Pernell McPhee recovers from a knee injury. Lamarr Houston is also around, and given his and McPhee’s lengthy injury history, it’s surprising the Bears don’t want to keep Acho and/or Skuta as insurance.
It’s not as if the Bears can hope to reap much in the way of draft compensation for either player — both Acho and Houston were freely available on the open market earlier this year, and both landed only minimum salary benefit contracts with Chicago. Both will be at least 29 years old by next, and neither has been a full-time starter in some time.
Given that the Bears are shopping Acho and Skuta, both figure to be in severe danger of being released by Saturday if Chicago can’t drum up a trade market.