The Bears placed Pernell McPhee on injured reserve on Wednesday. It’s possible that he has played his last game for Chicago. 
McPhee signed a five-year deal, $38.8MM deal with the Bears in 2015, meaning that he has two more years under contract. However, the Bears can cut him this offseason and save $7.075MM while eating just $1MM in dead money. That would be the logical move given McPhee’s injury troubles in recent years.
Earlier this year, when asked if McPhee will ever be the player he was when the Bears originally signed him in 2015, Chicago defensive Vic Fangio gave a simple answer: “Probably not.” Thanks to injuries to both knees and his recent shoulder injury, McPhee has missed 12 games over the last three years.
McPhee could still have a football future elsewhere, but not at the salary he was earning in Chicago. The advanced metrics show that despite the injury, he has still been quietly effective. He currently rates as the league’s No. 40 ranked edge defender, per Pro Football Focus, with an overall score of 79.9.
In related moves, the Bears signed linebacker Jonathan Anderson to the active roster and signed receiver Mekale McKay to the practice squad.