Trufant has not been around the team since Aug. 13 to be with his family since his father’s passing a couple of days after he left the team.
However, Trufant was the first corner taken off the market for the team since the release of Kyle Fuller. It seemed that Trufant was the filler for the gap that Fuller’s absence is bound to leave in the team.
Now, without Trufant around, Kindle Vildor will most certainly be the starting corner opposite Jaylon Johnson. But, the depth of the cornerback room is shot.
Carrying off of that, Thomas Graham, most recently drafted in the sixth-round of the most recent draft out of Oregon, was released too. Graham, like Trufant and the rest of the cornerback room, had high expectations of having a large role in the lineup due to the lack of depth.
Reverting back to my main thesis, both Trufant and Graham were moves made by Pace to clean up the mess he made by releasing Fuller. Now what?
ESPN reports the Bears have released veteran CB Desmond Trufant, whom they signed March 20 after cutting Kyle Fuller.
— Jason Lieser (@JasonLieser) August 31, 2021
Part III: More draft picks thrown away in the wide receiver room
On top of the cornerback room being shot to the ground, a few more draft picks have seen their final days on the Bears squad.
The most impactful name to fall under the list is Dazz Newsome, another sixth-round pick out of the last draft from North Carolina. Newsome suffered a broken collarbone early on in practice, which Bears fans have alluded to being a reason that Newsome was cut.
Newsome seemed to be an excellent addition to an already improved wide receiver core, but Bears fans will never know, unless he somehow sticks around on the practice squad.
Bears WRs drafted by Ryan Pace:
2015 – 1R Kevin White
2016 – 7R Daniel Braverman
2018 – 2R Anthony Miller
7R Javon Wims
2019 – 4R Riley Ridley
2020 – 5R Darnell Mooney
2021 – 6R Dazz Newsome
— Joe Ostrowski (@JoeO670) August 31, 2021
Going back to the receiver room, fourth-round draft pick in 2019, Riley Ridley, was released on cut day too.
The stigma around Ridley is that he never saw enough time on the field to give a true analysis. Bears fans like to speculate he could have been a bigger piece of the puzzle given his size (6-foot-1 and 200 pounds) and his brother’s (Calvin) success in the league.
Again, two more Pace moves that didn’t pan out.
Part IV: The Breakdown
The point of this evidence is for Bears fans to understand the direction of the season has been misleading based on the moves Pace and Nagy have made this offseason.
After the draft and free agency, things looked up for the Bears. With key additions of Fields, Marquise Goodwin, Damiere Byrd, Teven Jenkins, Larry Borom, and the return of Eddie Goldman, the Bears’ trajectory for the season looked surprisingly positive.
Even though most of the moves made are still intact for the upcoming season, the Bears have cut a shocking amount of the rookies and veterans they brought in, and the trajectory doesn’t feel so positive anymore.
What’s the answer for a cornerback? Should we have kept Fuller and maybe let go of Hicks? Why was Jenkins’s situation so unclear? The questions go on and on.
Pace seemed to have his job on lockdown for the future after draft night and the opening of free agency. Can we say the same now?