Back in March, it looked like Eric Weems would join Earl Bennett as Bears wide receivers released after refusing pay cuts for the 2014 season.
The Bears never made an official roster move, though, and that left Weems with enough time to decide to give the Bears what they wanted in exchange for continued employment with the team. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune reports that Weems agreed to the cut last week.
Weems’ salary will go from $1 million to $730,000, the veteran’s minimum for a player with his experience. He also retained a $100,000 workout bonus, which leaves the Bears with an extra $270,000 of cap space to go with their actual savings.
The move won’t guarantee Weems, who does almost all of his work on special teams, a roster spot, but he probably wasn’t looking at more than the veteran’s minimum with any other team if the Bears had cut him loose. With the workout bonus, he stands to make more than that in Chicago and that probably explains the course correction since last month.
