The Chicago Bears’ first salary cap casualty of the offseason didn’t come as a surprise as cornerback Buster Skrine is expected to be released with one season left on his original three-year deal.
The move frees up $2.7 million in salary cap space. If Chicago designates the move as a post-June 1 cut, it would save nearly $5 million in cap space.
In two seasons with the Bears, Skrine recorded 112 total tackles and eight pass breakups. Last year, Skrine missed the final five games after suffering a concussion.
Twitter had plenty to say about Skrine’s pending release, which included relief and optimism for young cornerbacks Duke Shelley and Kindle Vildor. Oh, and for the overly optimistic, they looked at it as a method to free up cap space for a franchise quarterback.
With the #Bears cutting Buster Skrine, it will be interesting to see if they give him a post-June 1 cut designation.
Cutting him normally saves roughly $2.7 million. Giving him the post-June 1 cut would save about $4.9 million, so that seems like the smarter option.
— Jacob Infante (@jacobinfante24) March 1, 2021
THANK YOU FOOTBALL GODS!!! Bye bye Buster Skrine!! Yuh Bish!!!
— Mr. Nesby (@nes_dv15) March 1, 2021
Bears release Buster Skrine Aka burnt toast 😩 lfg
— 𝘿𝙖𝙢𝙚𝘼𝙛𝙡𝙖𝙢𝙚 🔥 (@DameAflame) March 1, 2021
Buster Skrine has been cut pic.twitter.com/V5YdNhM91y
— . (@PatWillEra) March 1, 2021
Dang! I like Buster Skrine. #Bears Wish nothing but the Best! & I saw this coming honestly, Kindle Vildor held it down. https://t.co/W3CI9Nt6bs
— Just🥶Acy🥶Dawg™️ (@Just_Acy) March 1, 2021
The Bears are freeing up cap room, and now I'm overly optimistic about Russ:/ https://t.co/HECmt337sN
— Sauce Sartori (@lifeofsartori) March 1, 2021
Operation Create Cap Space for Deshaun Watson is under way https://t.co/Z3MPTdE0h6
— Adam (@_adamhess) March 1, 2021
@BusterSkrine thanks for everything bro wish you well wherever you go
— 🤨 (@LETMESTKDATIPIN) March 1, 2021
That was the free space on the #bears bingo board this off season https://t.co/Z2pK5mCoGd pic.twitter.com/9F7Ip8I1M8
— JB (@gridironborn) March 1, 2021
Buster Skrine’s PFF grades and stats over his tenure with the Bears
2019
-overall grade: 59.8 (87th)
-coverage grade: 59.1 (84th)
-Yards per slot snap: 1.21 (33rd)2020
-overall grade: 52.3 (100th)
-coverage grade: 46.2 (114th)
-YPS: 1.65 (46th) https://t.co/FaPuH3lksO— Bears Blog Boy (Tom Kavanaugh) (@TommyK_NFLDraft) March 1, 2021
Smart. More money for franchise QB Ryan Pace https://t.co/4EI36ZDxX7
— Enrico Pallazzo (@GMoneyELITE) March 1, 2021
Buster Skrine slander will not be tolerated today…😤
— 𝙈𝙞𝙩𝙘𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙡 𝙏𝙧𝙪𝙂𝙊𝘼𝙏𝙨𝙠𝙮 🐻⬇️ (@Trubisky10) March 1, 2021
what was your favorite part of the Buster Skrine era?
— ZachSox (@zachsox) March 1, 2021
Every Bears person I talked to over the season pointed to him as like- THE weak link of that defense. I'll pass thanks https://t.co/KjRB8ZWvLA
— Luke Braun (@LukeBraunNFL) March 1, 2021
Remember when he tweeted he’s the best slot in the game then got torched like 3 weeks in a row https://t.co/4fDI7OpCUX
— Albaro (@martinez3507) March 1, 2021
https://twitter.com/randywedo57/status/1366528887606419457?s=20
well that’s some good news. Maybe we won’t get burned in the slot every other play. https://t.co/h3wep6JLp6
— SoCalMike (@so_calmike) March 1, 2021
You thought my Sunday of Kindle Vildor hype was random huh. While some will say Shelley, it’s quite clear to me that the best move here is to go with Kindle. https://t.co/PV8WmCUmC9
— B (@BShulkes) March 1, 2021
Who could they be freeing cap space up for?
I kid. This was an obvious move. Teams picked on him. https://t.co/f55UnRbizX
— Andrew Dannehy (@ADannehy) March 1, 2021
amazing move. freeing up cap space while getting rid of chicago’s version of kevin king https://t.co/llo8XViFxo
— RUSSELL WILSON?! (@SoggyPB) March 1, 2021
Pour one out for the homie https://t.co/VyE3tHOKwb pic.twitter.com/b9gt399b6a
— BuffLlama (@JayDizzyD) March 1, 2021
Here we go…Bears release Buster Skrine and open up some valuable cap space for the QB that will lead them to the Super Bowl…Alex Smith
— Mr. Drew Tyler (@MrCoachTyler1) March 1, 2021
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