Bears Fielding Trade Offers For TE Martellus Bennett

Update:

Bears HC John Fox said Thursday that he expects TE Martellus Bennett to be on their roster at the conclusion of the draft, even though reports have said that he’s on the trading block, per Jeff Dickerson.

Interestingly enough, Fox said he isn’t sure if Bennett is a long-term fit in Chicago.

“That’s kind of a tough question to answer on anybody. I don’t know yet,” Fox said of Bennett, per Zach Zaidman.

Dan Pompei doesn’t anticipate the Bears getting a high draft pick for Bennett in a trade, which could prompt the team to consider a player-for-player deal.

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ESPN’s Adam Schefter, citing league sources, reports that the Bears are fielding trade offers for TE Martellus Bennett.

• According to Schefter, Bennett wants a new contract.

This probably isn’t a huge surprise give that Bennett has skipped the first two weeks of the Bears’ offseason program.

Bennett, 28, still has two years remaining on his four-year, $20.4 million contract that included $5.215 million guaranteed. He stands to make base salaries of $4.9 million (2015) and $5.085 million (2016) over the remainder of the contract.

According to OverTheCap.com, trading Bennett would free up $3,875,000 in available cap space while creating $2,250,000 in dead money.

In 2014, Bennett appeared in all 16 games for the Bears and caught 90 passes for 916 yards receiving and six touchdowns. Pro Football Focus has him rated as the No. 6 tight end out of 67 qualifying players.