Leno Released

[Pixote]

44 minutes ago, BearFan2000 said:

As for the Leno cut I think it was the right move and half expected it.  But, out of curiosity I thought I read somewhere that we would have saved more cap space had it been a June 1st cut.  I was expecting the cut but not this early.  

Quote

The move will be designated a post-June 1 cut, which will free up $9 million in cap space with only $2.3 million in dead money. 

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2021/05/03/bears-release-charles-leno-cap-space/

[BearFan2000]

6 hours ago, Pixote said:

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2021/05/03/bears-release-charles-leno-cap-space/

Thanks for the info, that 9 mil definitely helps.  I'm sure they were waiting to see how the draft shook out before making the move, but, once they decide to cut him it was the right thing to do for Leno to have as much time as he can to sign on with another team.  He's a serviceable depth player as a backup/spot start.

 

[Connorbear]

9 minutes ago, BearFan2000 said:

Thanks for the info, that 9 mil definitely helps.  I'm sure they were waiting to see how the draft shook out before making the move, but, once they decide to cut him it was the right thing to do for Leno to have as much time as he can to sign on with another team.  He's a serviceable depth player as a backup/spot start.

 

Agreed 100%. Leno has been a stand up team member so it's good they cut him right away to give him a chance to find a new home. 

Peace

[Stinger226]

I read a stat where games 1-10 he was ranked 48th amongst OTs,  and thru the rest of the season he was ranked 9th. So his was capable of being good,  it was just a consistency thing. But moving on instead always ignoring the position forces us to try to be better. 

[jason]

2 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

I read a stat where games 1-10 he was ranked 48th amongst OTs,  and thru the rest of the season he was ranked 9th. So his was capable of being good,  it was just a consistency thing. But moving on instead always ignoring the position forces us to try to be better. 

"Ranked" - If those rankings are from PFF, they're as reliable as the guards at Jeffery Epstein's cell.

Leno at his best was never better than average. They can crunch all sorts of made up stats all they want, but the bare naked eye says he sucked most of the time, and was average some of the time. He should have been cut before his new deal even happened, and the new deal was a massive mistake. Thanks goodness the team (i.e. Pace and Nagy) finally caught on.

[Stinger226]

I agree PFF isn't the most reliable source but it does give  you something to measure with. Wait and see , Leno will end up in Denver,  juwan James just got injured for the year. He was average for a few yrs but the last 2 yrs has been going down hill. Finally they have the balls to get better than to accept mediocrity for another year. 

[BearFan PHX]

11 hours ago, jason said:

"Ranked" - If those rankings are from PFF, they're as reliable as the guards at Jeffery Epstein's cell.

Leno at his best was never better than average. They can crunch all sorts of made up stats all they want, but the bare naked eye says he sucked most of the time, and was average some of the time. He should have been cut before his new deal even happened, and the new deal was a massive mistake. Thanks goodness the team (i.e. Pace and Nagy) finally caught on.

nailed it. 100%

[adam]

Still interesting to see Massie unsigned, now past the draft. 

For Leno, it will be interesting to see what type of deal he takes. If he is as good as some say, no way he is taking anything less than a multi-year deal with some guarantees. My bet is a 1-yr deal for under $5M. Which would be a pay cut. Above-Average to Average LTs don't take pay cuts. He will probably go to Denver to play for Fangio. 

If you go back and watch some games over the last few years, I saw a distinct difference between pre-big contract/marriage Leno and post-big contract/marriage Leno. Once he got paid, got married, had a kid, his play dropped off considerably. He had a ton of penalties in 2019 and was terrible for 75% of the season in 2020, and then played decent for 3-4 games at the end of the regular season. Not enough to warrant his cap hit and play.  Trubisky's mobility and him rolling out to his right more often saved a bunch of Leno sacks off the left.

To me, this move wasn't a real shock as we knew the team needed to clear some cap space. Now there are only 2 other players with cap savings of more than $3M, Hicks $10.5M and Graham $7M. With enough to sign the rookie class and a few extra million to bring in a couple of vets on $1M deals, they may not have to make any more moves.

[Mongo3451]

49 minutes ago, adam said:

Now there are only 2 other players with cap savings of more than $3M, Hicks $10.5M and Graham $7M. With enough to sign the rookie class and a few extra million to bring in a couple of vets on $1M deals, they may not have to make any more moves.

I would cut Graham.  Although his production was good last year, his presence this year will stunt Kmet's growth as they play the same position.  When they implemented Kmet in the short passing game last year, he showed more playmaking ability and some nasty attitude that fires a team up.  I like Hicks for one more year.  75% of Hicks is better than anything else we have up front.

[Pixote]

There must be a way to restructure both Graham and Hicks. I'd like to see them both remain on the team.

 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

21 minutes ago, Pixote said:

There must be a way to restructure both Graham and Hicks. I'd like to see them both remain on the team.

 

I agree.  Graham is a proven commodity and did better with Trubisky than he did when playing for Rodgers.  And with the uncertainty at slot receiver, might not be a bad idea to consider double TE formations.  After all, we hope now our Oline is a little more stout than it once was and won’t need as many extra blockers.  
 

I’d like to see how 7th round pick Tonga pans out.  I see him as a relief player for someone like Hicks.  And a perfect opportunity for him to learn from one of the best.  He looks the part for a great NT/DE in a 3-4.  

[adam]

2 hours ago, Pixote said:

There must be a way to restructure both Graham and Hicks. I'd like to see them both remain on the team.

 

I would extend Hicks, but Graham is on the last year of his deal, so we would have to extend him or cut him.

[ASHKUM BEAR]

Kmet played inline or Y and did well.  I wouldn't change much other than use him more as they did later in the season.  I would keep Graham around.  He was used as the X TE, basically a slot WR.  

[Stinger226]

With all the back and forth because of Leno being cut,   I think we are missing the main reason he got cut. NYC had some cosmic influence over the powers that be at halas hall.  He willed this to happen.  Think about it,  came out of nowhere to think he got cut this soon.  Jenkins is projected as a right tackle but the bears install him as there left tackle.  To many things don't make sense.  NYC wanted him gone,  HE'S GONE. 

[Stinger226]

Graham has value,  the questions are because of his pay amount. If he was being paid 4 mil,  everyone would be praising him as a red zone threat and helping Komet become a NFL player.  

13 hours ago, Mongo3451 said:

I would cut Graham.  Although his production was good last year, his presence this year will stunt Kmet's growth as they play the same position.  When they implemented Kmet in the short passing game last year, he showed more playmaking ability and some nasty attitude that fires a team up.  I like Hicks for one more year.  75% of Hicks is better than anything else we have up front.

I wouldn't cut Graham,  defenses have to pay attention to him when he's on the field.  We need as many TD scorers as we can, he can do that.  Hicks at 75% is still the best DT we have,  agree. 

[BearFan PHX]

1 hour ago, Stinger226 said:

With all the back and forth because of Leno being cut,   I think we are missing the main reason he got cut. NYC had some cosmic influence over the powers that be at halas hall.  He willed this to happen.  Think about it,  came out of nowhere to think he got cut this soon.  Jenkins is projected as a right tackle but the bears install him as there left tackle.  To many things don't make sense.  NYC wanted him gone,  HE'S GONE. 

yeah, youd better be nice to me LOLOL

In reality, this move is at least a year late. THe writing has been on the wall for a while, nothing special that I noticed it. A lot of people did.

[adam]

Leno signs a one year $5M deal with WFT. 

[adam]

1 hour ago, adam said:

Leno signs a one year $5M deal with WFT. 

In comparison, Massie signed for $4M. 

[Alaskan Grizzly]

1 hour ago, adam said:

In comparison, Massie signed for $4M. 

I wonder if it’s because Leno signed as an LT versus Massie signing as an RT?  Or that Massie has an injury history and Leno not so much?  🤷🏻‍♂️

[Mongo3451]

On 5/7/2021 at 12:11 AM, BearFan NYC said:

THe writing has been on the wall for a while, nothing special that I noticed it. A lot of people did.

Yet he's worth 5 million dollars.  Welcome to bizarro world.  

[Stinger226]

By the end of the season,  we can look at the mistakes by Leno and Jenkins , and you wont notice much difference but you're building a player instead of looking for someone to replace Leno. 

[Mongo3451]

12 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:

By the end of the season,  we can look at the mistakes by Leno and Jenkins , and you wont notice much difference but you're building a player instead of looking for someone to replace Leno. 

Love it.  We can also look at the successes in the run game.