Bears cut former Seahawk Mike Davis

In the spring former Seattle Seahawks running back Mike Davis signed a free agent contract with the Chicago Bears. The size of the contract, coupled with the Bears trading Jordan Howard to the Philadelphia Eagles just two weeks later, seemed to give Davis the best chance of his career at being a feature back. Unfortunately for Davis, as we noted last month, the opportunity in Chicago did not last long, as the Bears quickly moved on from Davis after making him the Week 1 starter. Even with Howard out of the picture, third round pick David Montgomery has laid claim to the starting role, with Tarik Cohen filling the role of third down back and playing in passing situations.

Sign up for NFL FanPulse and share your thoughts on the Seahawks!

In the Bears Week 1 loss to the division rival Green Bay Packers Davis played 40 offensive snaps, which was more than he would play over the subsequent seven games. Over the last eight weeks, Davis has logged just 31 offensive snaps and six carries for six yards. On top of averaging less than one rushing attempt per game for the anemic Chicago offense, he has only been targeted once since Week 1.

On Saturday, the Chicago Bears decided they would rather have a 2020 fourth round pick than have Davis under contract through the end of 2021 at the cost of $3.412M, and therefore released Davis.

In doing so, they have affected the comp pick calculations for not just Chicago, but for Seattle as well.

The reason keeping Davis would cost the Bears a fourth round comp pick in 2020 is because his signing cancelled the loss of Adrian Amos to the Packers. Per Nick Korte, the comp pick expert at OverTheCap.com, the Amos contract with Green Bay would have qualified Chicago for a fourth round comp pick, but that possible pick was cancelled out by the signing of Davis.

Therefore, with the release of Davis, the Amos contract is no longer cancelled, and the Bears should be in line to receive a fourth round comp pick next spring. In addition, the release of Davis before 4 pm New York Time on the Saturday of Week 10 also means that Davis will not count in comp pick calculations for the Seahawks. That means that Seattle will no longer be in line to receive the seventh round comp pick which Korte had projected the Hawks would receive.

Before fans get all worked up, however, about the loss of a comp pick, there is an important fact to keep in mind. Specifically, while Davis will no longer yield the Hawks a seventh round comp pick, it puts into play a seventh round comp pick for Brett Hundley instead. Hundley, acquired from Green Bay on the eve of the 2018 season, signed a one-year, $1.875M contract with the Arizona Cardinal. OTC projects Hundley’s contract should be just enough to earn a seventh round comp pick as well, and with teams capped at a maximum of four comp picks, removing a pick from the Davis signing opens up the opportunity to receive a pick for Hundley.

Thus, while Seattle should remain in line to receive a full complement of four compensatory picks in the 2020 draft, the calculations now appear to make the final pick as the 251st in the draft, rather than the 248th overall selection. In addition, due to the addition of an earlier comp pick into the calculations for Amos, the New York Giants who had been projected to receive the last comp pick in the draft for the departure of Josh Mauro appear likely to lose that pick.

So, while Mike Davis will now go through waivers and the 31 other teams will have an opportunity to claim his services for the next season and a half for $3.412M, the move affects far more than just the Bears. The Seahawks are projected to see their final comp pick slip three spots, and the New York Giants lose a comp pick entirely, all because of the fact that Chicago released its third string running back.