The Bears on Wednesday released the other half of their starting defensive tackle tandem for the last three seasons, cutting seven-year veteran Mike Wells four months after they said farewell to sidekick Jim Flanigan.
It is a move with curious undercurrents. Wells approached the Bears with a request for a pay cut from his base salary of $2.2 million for 2001, hoping to remain with the team. The request was turned down, as were inquiries about trading for the run-stopping specialist.
“I volunteered to take a pay cut but that just wasn’t an option,” said Wells, who has drawn interest from Washington and New England. “It almost seemed like [GM] Jerry Angelo wanted to cut me.”
Angelo has shown a willingness to take tough stands in player issues, such as turning down the request of linebacker Sean Harris to come out of retirement, and now cutting Wells. He is intent on reshaping the Bears but in the process also is creating some sense of foreboding in the locker room, a negative emotion that could bubble to the surface if the team struggles early.
Players have admitted to looking over their shoulders since the arrival of Angelo. “A lot of people were jealous of me that I got cut,” Wells said.
Angelo made no secret that finances play an important part in decision making under the salary-cap system. That could boomerang if players begin to believe they are being evaluated more on their price than on their performance.
Angelo declared that the salary cap was his primary focus initially as he worked to give himself flexibility in future years while getting certain salaries in line with players’ roles.
“I not only see jersey numbers,” Angelo said, “I see those [cap] numbers too.”
Wells’ departure gains the Bears $1.65 million in salary-cap space this year as Angelo accelerates his makeover of the roster and payroll.
Angelo said that other moves were possible to free up needed cap space. The Bears hope to use some of this year’s cap space toward contract extensions and already have discussed extensions for linebacker Rosevelt Colvin, center Olin Kreutz, safety Tony Parrish and others scheduled to become free agents after this season.
The Bears have already renegotiated contracts with cornerback Thomas Smith and offensive tackle James Williams, helping clear cap space that will be needed if Cade McNown is traded or released.
Negotiations also are continuing on a long-term contract for defensive lineman Bryan Robinson, currently the team’s transition player with a one-year contract costing the Bears $4.17 million this year.
The choice of Keith Traylor over Wells, who was signed as a free agent in 1998 to a five-year, $11.7 million contract that included a $2.75 million signing bonus, struck some as curious. Wells, 30, is a year younger than Traylor and had nearly twice as many tackles as Traylor over the last three seasons.
Wells started 46 of the Bears’ last 48 games, missing only two starts last season when the Bears started the game in a pass-rushing defense. He was a fourth-round draft choice of Minnesota in 1994 out of the University of Iowa, was cut by the Vikings in training camp and went on to win a starting job with the Lions that year.
“The cap situation changes almost on a daily basis and we had to make a decision,” Angelo said, noting the Bears believe younger, less expensive tackles will take over Wells’ role.
Teams talked with the Bears about possibly trading for Wells and the Bears informed Wells of the interest Tuesday morning. But “we thought it was better to release him,” Angelo said.
The signings of Traylor and Ted Washington, plus the development of young tackles Alfonso Boone, Robert Newkirk and Henry Taylor meant that, particularly with the money invested in Traylor and Washington, “the position became too rich,” Angelo said. “We were top-heavy at Mike’s position. That put an X on Mike’s chest.”
