Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune answers your questions:
Biggs: “I don’t know that I’ve seen as much outcry over the release of a player in many seasons as I have with [Mason] Foster. Good guy. Decent player for the Bucs who seemed to tail off the last year or so in Tampa. A little undersized. Doesn’t run great. Foster didn’t have much going on in free agency so I’m puzzled as to the public consternation over his release.”
I’m not saying that the Bears should have kept Foster but I believe I can clear this up for Brad. Pick any preseason game and I think anyone will tell you that Foster did more in that one game than Shea McClellin and Christian Jones showed combined in all of the games they played in total. Against back ups, its true. But still, he looked more like a playmaker than anyone else playing on the inside on a team that desperately needs them.
The guess here is that Foster didn’t stick because the coaching staff saw more upside in McClellin and Jones and were projecting each to be better than Foster by year’s end.