Bears Finally Open Up on If Trey Burton is Still in Their Plans

People talk about Mitch Trubisky, the offensive line, and the play calling when trying to determine where this nightmare of a 2019 Chicago Bears offense began. Not enough people point to the barren wasteland that was the tight end position enough. Trey Burton and Adam Shaheen were both expected to help elevate the position to be a credible threat in the passing game this year. Instead, both ended up on IR and the team was eventually forced to lean on undrafted free agent Jesper Horsted and journeyman J.P. Holtz for results.

Not ideal.

Thus the questions have started flying. Will the Bears do a complete reboot at tight end this offseason? Pretty much everybody agrees that Shaheen is gone. Is it possible Burton could go with him? It wouldn't be easy. The veteran signed a contract where he's still due a lot of guaranteed money. Cutting him outright wouldn't do much of anything for the salary cap. They could give a post-June 1st designation and recoup $2.8 million. Or they might find a way to trade him which would secure just over $5 million.

So it's not impossible. Are the Bears considering it though or do they expect him back in 2020? Head coach Matt Nagy provided clarity on the subject.

“Yeah, I would hope so. I don’t see why not...He’s had a year of trying to get healthy, and he’s not there yet. He’s just going to be working through that, and we’ll see where he’s at here as he goes. He’s still working on getting healthy.”

Trey Burton will be back, like it or not

The truth is Burton was a credible player in this offense when he was healthy. He had 569 yards and six touchdowns in 2018. It was clear the team badly missed him this year as he battled one injury setback after another. They were never able to replace his presence in the middle of the field and it showed too often on Sundays. They no doubt hope the next several months will serve as plenty of time for him to finally get his body right.

That said, one should not expect them to lean on him anymore. It's a virtual certainty GM Ryan Pace will start seeking more depth and competition at the position. This so if Burton ends up having another body part lock up on him, the team will be better prepared for it.