Bears Release DT Jay Ratliff After Incident With GM Ryan Pace, Sign DT Ziggy Hood

Update:

The Chicago Bears announced that the release of veteran DT Jay Ratliff as well as the signing of DT Ziggy Hood on Thursday.

#Bears have terminated contract of DL Jeremiah Ratliff & signed DL Ziggy Hood.

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) October 22, 2015

Hood, 28, is a former first-round pick of the Steelers back in 2009. He played out his rookie contract with the Steelers before signing a four-year agreement with the Jaguars in March of last year.

However, the Jaguars elected to release Hood from injured reserve a few days ago.

Last year, Hood appeared in all 16 games for the Jaguars and recorded 24 tackles, one sack and a fumble recovery.

————

Field Yates of ESPN reports that the Bears have released veteran DT Jay Ratliff on Thursday.

• Adam Jahns reports that Ratliff was escorted out of Halas Hall on Wednesday by Bears security. Ratliff after he had an animated exchange with GM Ryan Pace outside.

Chicago continues to move on from veteran players, and open the door for some of their young talent to get more playing time moving forward.

Ratliff, 34, is in the final year of his two-year, $4 million contract that included $600,000 guaranteed. He was set to make a base salary of $1.5 million for the 2015 season.

According to OverTheCap.com, releasing Ratliff will free up $1,594,669 cap space while creating no dead money.

This season, Ratliff has been limited to appeaering in two games and recording eight tackles for the Bears.