At least the Bears didn’t have time for false hope.
As we mentioned this morning, the initial fear was that defensive tackle Henry Melton had suffered a torn ACL late in last night’s win over the Steelers.
That fear was confirmed, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, who said the injury will cost Melton the rest of the season.
It could also cost him much more than that.
The 26-year-old was playing this season under the $8.45 million franchise tag. After not getting a long-term deal from the Bears this offseason, his hope was to parlay another strong year into a payday next offseason.
Now, it’s hard to imagine anybody giving anything close to the kind of guaranteed money he deserves to a guy coming off a season-ending injury.
It’s the reason players hate the franchise tag so much, essentially the worst-case scenario for those employees.