Former Chicago Bears cornerback Buster Skrine is signing with the San Francisco 49ers, according to Sirius XM’s Adam Caplan.
The 32-year-old cornerback was released by the Bears two years into the three-year, $16.6 million contract he signed with them in March of 2019. The team released the veteran nickel cornerback in a cap-saving move this spring, which, considering their current issues at the position, may not have been the best thing.
Skrine played in 28 games for the Bears during the 2019-20 seasons, starting seven. He tallied 114 total tackles, three forced fumbles, two tackles for loss and two quarterback hits while with Chicago. Issues with concussions made many question whether he would keep playing after he suffered the sixth concussion of his career last fall, but it’s clear Skrine isn’t ready to hang up the cleats yet.
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Skrine Has Scary History With Concussions
A fifth-round pick by the Cleveland Browns in 2011, Skrine spent four years in Cleveland before heading to New York, where he played for the Jets for four more seasons. Concussions followed him wherever he went, however. While Skrine played in all 16 games for Chicago in 2019, he missed Weeks 14-17 after going down with a concussion Week 13 against the Detroit Lions.
Skrine said the following about his concussion history in an interview with NJ.com back in 2019:
“I feel like if I have signs, if I don’t feel well, then I’ll make the best decision. But right now, I feel good. I’m still playing fast. My mom says, ‘Make sure you put your health first. Always be honest with yourself and your health.'”
After he finished last season on the bench with concussion No. 6, it didn’t look good for Skrine, but he also noted back in 2019 that he took excellent care of his body.
“It depends on, too, your diet, things you eat, things you take, vitamin-wise, for your brain. There are probably a lot of players out there who play with concussions that don’t know they have a concussion,” Skrine said. “I’m old enough to say, ‘Ah, my head doesn’t feel well.’ Because the last concussion I got, I took myself out of the game. A player never really knows how many concussions he’s had, because you’re hitting so much. You might have a concussion, and you don’t know, and you just think you’ve got a headache.”
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Bears Would Be Better Served With Kyle Fuller & Skrine Than Their Current Group of CBs
While Jaylon Johnson has been lights out for the Bears so far this season, if Chicago had chosen to keep veteran CBs Kyle Fuller and Skrine around instead of, say, tight end Jimmy Graham, who has exactly one catch for three yards through three games, the Bears would have a much better situation in the secondary. That’s not the case, however.
Instead, Skrine will join what is starting to be a laundry list of veteran cornerbacks in San Francisco, including Josh Norman and Dre Kirkpatrick. Norman suffered a lung contusion Sunday night against the Green Bay Packers, and K’Waun Williams is also out, so it’s possible Skrine could be on the roster sooner rather than later.
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