The Chicago Bears parted ways with tight end Trey Burton last Friday. The move came as a bit of surprise to some. Not because of his performance and inability to stay on the field, but because the Bears didn’t serve to gain much with his release in terms of the salary cap.
Now that Burton’s release has been made official by the NFL’s transactions log, we’ve learned the reason for Chicago cutting Burton. Turns out, Burton was given a failed physical designation.
While Burton showed flashes of his potential in this Bears offense in 2018, his problem was that he couldn’t stay healthy. Even when he returned for the start of the season in 2019, it was clear that he wasn’t the same player before the groin injury that held him out of Chicago’s wild card playoff game against the Eagles in January 2019.
Last season, Burton played in just eight games, where he had 14 catches for 84 yards, before landing on injured reserve. Considering the four-year, $32 million deal — with $22 million guaranteed — he’s been another disappointment for general manager Ryan Pace.
Burton had his second straight offseason surgery since arriving to Chicago back in December — where he opted to get his hip operated on to address a labrum injury. So seeing that Burton got a failed physical designation wasn’t a surprise.
Pace addressed it during his pre-draft press conference, citing that Burton’s injuries “added up” and that it was “the best course of action for our team.”
Burton was also labeled a post-June 1 cut, which means his cap hit can be divided among these next two seasons.
