Bears re-sign Deon Bush to 1-year deal
The Bears welcomed back safety Deon Bush with a one-year, $1.4 million deal Friday, according to multiple reports, after starter Ha Ha Clinton-Dix joined the Dallas Cowboys Thursday evening on his own one-year deal, including a maximum value of $4 million.
Although Clinton-Dix ultimately had to settle for another one-year prove-it deal in reuniting with ex-Packers coach Mike McCarthy, the Bears probably weren't in position to even afford that much after extending Eddie Jackson in January and splurging to complement Khalil Mack with Robert Quinn and keep their ILB trio intact by re-signing Danny Trevathan.
Bush, originally a fourth-round draft pick in 2016, has mostly been a spot starter and special teams stalwart, appearing in 55 games (including nine starts). The ex-Hurricane lacks Clinton-Dix's size and pedigree but brings more urgency as a tackler and enough speed to potentially fit nicely opposite Jackson, one of the game's rangier and more instinctive defensive backs.
Bush is currently penciled in as the starter but could receive competition from a draft pick. He'll have a leg up because of his experience in Chuck Pagano's system and the confidence the Bears have consistently shown in him to slide in seamlessly either spelling an injured starter or in sporadic big dime packages when needed.
After earning praise from coach Matt Nagy as one of the team's more consistent performers last summer in training camp, despite Clinton-Dix's arrival, Bush curiously spelled the starter on the Bears' first TD drive surrendered of the season, early in the second quarter of Week 1. He was on the wrong end of a big play to Marquez Valdes-Scantling before getting boxed out by new teammate Jimmy Graham, and his opportunities were sporadic the rest of the season, in which he played a career-low 58 defensive snaps but career-high 263 snaps on special teams.
The Bears' decision to let Clinton-Dix walk and retain one of their own could further buttress what projects to be one of the bigger 2021 compensatory draft pick hauls in football, with Ryan Pace currently on overthecap.com's unofficial board with a quartet of sixth-rounders - the maximum allotment of compensatory picks that can be earned.