Former O-Linemen of Saints Super Bowl Era Near Their End

You Are Who We Thought You Were

Dec 15, 2014; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bears tackle Jermon Bushrod (74) on the bench during the second quarter against the New Orleans Saints at Soldier Field. Mandatory Credit: Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports

In a similar case to Nicks, tackle Jermon Bushrod felt the need to spread his wings in free agency to try and get a large contract.

Along with Nicks and Goodwin, Bushrod used his reputation he built with the offensive line beginning in 2009 to catapult his price up after signing a 2-yr deal for $9.5 million in 2011.

Of course fans and analysts alike have debated the legitimacy of Bushrod’s reputation on the blind side of Brees with the word “average” being used in several cases.

Nevertheless, Bushrod parlayed it into a 5-yr contract worth $35.965 million in 2013 with the Chicago Bears where he joined forces with his old line coach Aaron Kromer from the Saints who was now the offensive coordinator in Chicago.

But the naysayers seemed to have hit the mark on his performance not living up to the contract and Bushrod had a rocky start in Chicago that only got worse.

Pro Football Focus rated him as the 52nd tackle out of 76 total in 2013 and out of left tackles who played in all 16 games that season he was ranked third from last out of 16 players.

For 2014 he plummeted to 57th out of 84 tackles total and for left tackles who played at least 14 games(his total for that year) he ranked 21st out of 27 players.

This past season in an article for the Chicago Tribune, Bushrod was said to be “battling” for his career after a host of injuries and only started four games even though he was active for 12 of those.

Yesterday, it was announced that the Bears had released him due to a failed physical and followed up with news from NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport that Bushrod will need surgery to repair a tear in his shoulder.

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Pro Football Talk made mention that while the report says he would be “ready” by 2016, it could mean that Bushrod might miss offseason season workouts or OTA’s — which might turn some teams off to him and “remain on the market” longer than he was back in 2013.

For Bushrod as well as it has been for most of Drew Brees’ original Super Bowl Era starting O-Linemen, the bell is now tolling the final few sounds on their professional football careers……