CHICAGO _ Cameron Meredith jogged off the Halas Hall practice field and into a storm. It was late August 2015, and roster cuts were looming. As Meredith crossed the sideline, his Bears position coach at the time charged at him.
Mike Groh was irate. Meredith had been too soft against press coverage in the previous team drill.
Groh wondered aloud using colorful language: How would an undrafted rookie receiver out of FCS-level Illinois State win an NFL roster spot without the emotional edge and physical toughness to beat a jam at the line of scrimmage?
Groh shoved both his hands into Meredith's chest with more than a little force, and they acted out the technique and aggressiveness Meredith should use.
Two weeks later, Meredith made the team. Two seasons later, he led the three-win Bears in receptions (66) and receiving yards (888) and tied for the team lead with four touchdown catches.
Suddenly, the Bears had a 6-foot-3, 207-pound receiver with a long catch radius and versatility to play the slot. A homegrown prospect with enough suddenness to separate from coverage and the body control to manipulate his weight to set up defenders on double moves.
In other words, Meredith was exactly the type of inexpensive acquisition and developmental success story the Bears need more of to end their streak of four double-digit-loss seasons.
That's why their choice not to match the Saints' two-year, $9.6 million offer sheet to Meredith should be interpreted, above all else, as a decision about his surgically reconstructed left knee.
Perhaps there is no better example than Meredith to support the processes general manager Ryan Pace has instituted since taking over in 2015. From identifying Meredith at the Bears' local pro day that year to developing the former quarterback into a contributing receiver, he was proof that not everything at Halas Hall was broken.
The only reason to let him walk out the door, then, is substantiated doubt about the knee in which Meredith tore the anterior cruciate ligament and partially tore the medial collateral ligament in August. Pace often references the importance of conviction in personnel decisions, and clearly the Bears have conviction on this.
It would have been relatively cheap for them to ensure Meredith's comeback attempt occurred in their uniform. They could have tendered him last month at the second-round level for only $1 million more than the no-compensation level of $1.9 million they did.
Only $1 million more to deter poachers such as the Saints and eliminate the chance Meredith goes elsewhere and outperforms what the Bears medical evaluation indicates he'll be capable of.
As the GM of a team in need of offensive playmakers _ and one that sits today with $24 million in salary-cap space _ Pace has opened himself to scrutiny for not paying extra to avoid that possibility.
Tendering Meredith the low-level qualifying offer, which affords the Bears no compensation for his departure, and subsequently not matching the Saints' offer sheet broadcasts the Bears' medical evaluation of a player they otherwise could use and would love to have kept.
In fact, heavy doubt about Meredith's knee has existed since his surgery. By late October, the Bears concluded they could not use ink to write Meredith's name in their 2018 plans.
That's why they approached free agency in March as though anything they got from Meredith this season would be icing on Matt Nagy's new offensive cake.
They fully guaranteed a total of $50 million to receivers Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel and tight end Trey Burton. Such a large investment in pass catchers was a function of their doubts about Meredith, who was clearly the Bears' best receiver in camp last summer.
Then, the Saints' belief in Meredith forced the Bears to decide on him again, this time after they spent all those free-agent dollars and accounted for roles in the new offense.
Of course, the arrival of Robinson, Gabriel and Burton changed the dynamic of how Meredith might fit. But Pace has a record of assigning a value to a player and sticking to it. If they believed in Meredith's fitness, they still could have afforded him.
What makes this situation such a compelling drama is that the Saints have reached more favorable conclusions about the viability of Meredith's knee. Here we have the Bears' medical staff against the Saints' in a heads-up, chips-in-the-middle, show-your-cards faceoff.
Pace had two opportunities to avoid it, each at different price points. But the results still must play out before this is finalized on his resume. Pace isn't wrong until Meredith proves he is.
The last time Meredith spoke with Bears media was New Year's Day. At that point in his rehabilitation, he was focused on knee flexion and strengthening his leg.
"Training camp, for sure, I'll be back going 100 percent," he said then. He just didn't know it would be with Drew Brees instead of Mitch Trubisky.
Now, even with Meredith's new team 900 miles away, eyes will remain on him. Regardless of where or how his career ends up, everyone can lament how a catastrophic knee injury in an exhibition game derailed it from its promising Bears track.
Pace and the team share that pain.
