Chicago Bears: The Alshon Jeffery and Akiem Hicks Situations

GM Ryan Pace caught a lot of flak for not re-signing Alshon Jeffery, but then gets praised for locking up Akiem Hicks. So what gives?

People may think Pace simply made a mistake with Jeffery and made sure he didn’t make it again with Hicks. That’s the easy answer and it’s also the wrong one. If people were to pay attention to those situations, they would realize that Pace never ceased operating the style he’d pledged when he first took the Chicago Bears over. He stated quite clearly that his goal was to reward his own players with new deals if they performed up to team standards.

To his credit that’s exactly what he’s done. Willie Young, Kyle Long, and Charles Leno received contract extensions. Hicks was the latest to do so. What do all those men have in common? They performed well and did everything that was asked of them. Young embraced the work shifting from defensive end to outside linebacker. Leno took over as starter at left tackle and hasn’t missed a game. Long shifted from right guard to right tackle to right guard and now left guard. Hicks delivered seven sacks last year as was their best defensive player.

Alshon Jeffery and Akiem Hicks were always about doing the job

Of course some people are asking why the Bears couldn’t do this with Jeffery? He was their best receiver and could’ve helped the team given their injury situation now. The thing is it was never certain that Jeffery wanted to stay in Chicago. That’s the first thing. Second is the fact that in his two years under Pace’s watch Jeffery didn’t exactly endear himself to the franchise.

He refused to join the team for offseason activities, preferring to work on his own. He missed several games with injuries and then incurred a four-game suspension for PED violations. On top of that he was inconsistent on the field. For every big game he’d have, he’d disappear for another. As the weeks went on it became clearer to Pace that Alshon was not a “Bears guy” as he liked to put it. He was never the same player after Brandon Marshall left and seemed only interested in a big payday.

Hicks accepted $12 million per year. Though that’s considerably high, it still only ranks him 4th on the list of 3-4 ends and a whopping $5.2 million below the man at #1, Muhammad Wilkerson. He got his money but left enough wiggle room to give the team flexibility. That’s why the Bears wanted to keep him and why Jeffery is on another prove-it deal in Philadelphia.