Under the radar Bears signing this week that kinda surprised me.
Bears sign Brian de la Puente
Few things about this that are interesting.
[ol]
[li]The Bears resigned Roberto Garza to play center about 5 weeks ago.[/li][li]Aaron Kromer brings in a second former Saints OL after last years successful Bushrod signing[/li][li]Garza is a team captain and is extremely well respected in that locker room[/li][li]de la Puente is 28, Garza is 35[/li][li]Garza is earning ~$2M this year, de la Puente earned roughly the same last year in New Orleans[/li][li]de la Puente replaced Kruetz in New Orleans, Garza replaced Kruetz in Chicago[/li][li]de la Puente was apparently being courted by the Redskins, Patriots, Broncos and Giants, the Bears were a stealth player[/li][/ol]
So, there’s a lot of weird stuff there. First, after all those DL signings I didn’t think the Bears could afford anyone else. So, is there another shoe left to drop? De la Puente was the starter in New Orleans, but presumably was either interviewing as a starter (or was used as a bargaining chip) in those other team’s negotiations. Doubtful he’d opt to take a backup role in Chicago.
So, all that points to Garza being shown the door. Certainly I’d be shocked to see the Bears carry $4M+ in salary at the Center position, and they have a developmental guy in Boggs who supposedly they like, so it makes a lot of sense to cut Garza.
Garza has been a declining player and was the weak link on the line last year, at least physically, but with so many new guys he was important as the guy calling out assignments. Perhaps they feel like de la Puente, coming from Kromer’s system, will be a seamless stand in there.
De la Puente, even though he graded out above average last year with PFF, has been a up-and-down player who’s struggled to stick anywhere. The Saints brought in an old and declining Kruetz 2 years ago (under Kromer) when they had de la Puente there already.
I’m assuming this means that Garza is done (yet I haven’t heard a peep about this in the news and the Bears, Garza and de la Puente are all acting like Garza is still the starter in 2014), but my question is if this is an upgrade. If we get the 2012 version of de la Puente then yes it is. If we get the 2013 version it’s a push at best.
de la Puente is a good pass blocker and a bad run blocker, which I prefer from a OL, but it’s not ideal. Garza was a good run blocking OG, but a bad run blocking C. My take is that de la Puente is a less physical player than Garza, but is younger and somewhat better in pass-pro. If the salaries are a wash I think it’s an upgrade. I’ve been a critic of Garza for a while and I think the “locker room leadership” stuff is often overrated, but I do credit Kyle Long’s great rookie campaign at least partially to Garza making sure he had the right assignments.
Center definitely was one of those positions that I wanted to Bears to improve this offseason but I was hoping for a 4th or 5th round draft pick to fill that role. de la Puente might be a better option and the Bears can really go BPA in just about every round of the draft now, but I really hope they aren’t getting into cap trouble with all these FA signings.
In other news, the Bears resigned Eben Britton to be their swing tackle/guard and Jumbo TE. This is a great move. Again, not sure how they are paying these guys yet (though Britton probably isn’t much more expensive than the veteran minimum), but Britton was a sneaky valuable guy last year. He lined up all over the place in heavy formations and was the primary backup at every OL position except Center. He filled in well when Jordan Mills got hurt and is insurance in case he doesn’t fully recover from the broken foot or has a sophomore slump.
The Bears added another TE in Zach Miller from the Jaguars, a.k.a. not that Zach Miller. The Bears are deep at TE, obviously it’s a position they are prioritizing, but if Miller or Rosario are playing big minutes we’re in trouble. My hunch is that they draft a guy at that position and hope that Onobun finally blossoms so both Rosario and Miller can be cut in camp, but if neither of those things pan out at least we’ve got a backup plan in place.