The Bears have chosen to not match Cameron Meredith‘s offer sheet with the Saints, Adam Schefter of ESPN.com tweets. Meredith will now join Drew Brees & Co. in New Orleans on a two-year deal.
The Saints inked the restricted free agent to an offer sheet late last week, which triggered a five-day window for the Bears to match. Because Meredith was tendered at the lowest level, the Bears will not receive draft pick compensation.
The Bears, apparently, were skittish about Meredith’s medical situation. The receiver is coming off of a torn ACL and MCL, so there is a bit of risk in the signing for the Saints. However, if he is healthy, this will likely prove to be a brilliant value add for New Orleans.
The Saints now project to start Mike Thomas, Ted Ginn Jr., and Meredith at wide receiver. With Mark Ingram in the backfield, tight end stands as the Saints’ last major need at a skill position. Currently, the Saints have Josh Hill, Coby Fleener, Benjamin Watson, and Michael Hoomanawanui in their TE group. None of those players offer the same upside as, say, Jimmy Graham, whom the Saints tried to sign in March.
The presence of Saints wide receivers coach Curtis Johnson played a big role in Meredith’s relocation to Louisiana. Johnson worked with Meredith in Chicago and fought for him to make the Bears’ final cut in the summer of 2016. Meredith rewarded his confidence by catching 66 passes for 888 yards in just ten starts.
Meredith will now play on a two-year $9.6MM deal with $5.4MM guaranteed. With incentives, the deal could be worth as much as $12.6MM.
[RELATED: Saints Depth Chart]
Cool. But what does this have to do with the 49ers? Got an alert that said 49ers news lol
Same. I was like Cameron Meredith is coming to the Niners??
site error, sorry about that
I think everyone who enjoys seeing Niner fans messed with should provide an up vote….lol
So dumb Bears. $1 million more would’ve avoided all this
I hope he does well with the Saints. After the nightmare they have had with Kevin White, you can understand why the Bears have become a bit gun shy with signing injured WRs.
they gave a Robinson, who only played 1 game, last season $25 million guaranteed…
Bears tendered him at 1.9 mil, could have kept him for 2.9 mil. Pace pissed away how many millions last free agency on bum players, just gave a kicker 9 mil., Meredith had 66 catches for almost 900 yards in 2016 was supposed to be our #1 WR last yr, now he’s not worth $2.9 mil. Bears fans better hope Nagy & Vic have a lotta pull regarding draft picks, FA’s. Even if Trubisky becomes an perennial pro-bowler, Pace is hot mess who is not qualified to be a GM
The only thing I can applaud him for is getting Cutler out of town. At times he appears to be on the payroll of other teams in the division.
he replaced him with Glennon…
Sure, if you want to ignore him drafting a QB…
yea it really was a dumb move. They should have at least tried to get something for the guy and not let him walk away.
Shocking that the Bears were willing to give all that money the Allen Robinson coming off a serious injury but didn’t think it was worth locking Cam up. Guess it means they’re going to draft at least one WR if not two of them.
Considering that they brought in Nagy and that Trubisky is now expected to be the meal ticket, I would think you see 2 WRs drafted at least. They have seen how much progress Jeff Goff has made once given strong weapons and they would like to try a similar approach.
Look for them to trade down since no wr worth 8 th pick and may acquire additional pick or picks to help them in their possible wr drafting
The Bears really blew this one. Pace gave him the wrong tender and a very solid WR who could’ve really helped the whole corps is gone. Just plain dumb.
Pace is thinking “Now I have an extra million I can entice Eric Decker with”…lol.
nooo…that guy is done.
I don’t know how you Bear’s fans can stomach these terrible moves Pace is making. He’s had a career full of bad moves already in just a few years.
what choice do we have? it’s not like the ownership will listen.
The great thing about being a Bear fan is that you learn not to take life too seriously. Sometimes it’s just better to laugh at the ineptitude that takes place. Pace hasn’t signed Manziel yet so it’s not a complete train wreck.
God only knows what “creative” choices he’ll make in the draft.