Chicago Bears have released Ted Ginn in post-trade deadline move

After a quiet trade deadline, the Chicago Bears will reportedly release wide receiver Ted Ginn.

It was a slow NFL trade deadline league-wide on Tuesday, and despite some moves that could have been made the Chicago Bears stood pat. But on Wednesday, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter and others, the Bears had release wide receiver Ted Ginn.

The Bears have confirmed the move.

Ginn signed a one-year deal with the Bears in April.  But he was a healthy scratch in two games, most recently Week 8 against the New Orleans Saints, and had just three receptions for 40 yards in his six games. He also had five punt returns, for just 24 yards. After playing 28 offensive snaps in Week 1, he was inactive for Week 2 and then played a total of 34 snaps in his other five games.

The Bears had no further use for Ted Ginn

With Allen Robinson, Anthony Miller and the emergence of Darnell Mooney, the Bears just didn’t have room for Ginn. He stepped in as the punt returner after Tarik Cohen (torn ACL) went down, but his impact there was insignificant. Dwayne Harris has stepped in as Chicago’s punt returner. It’s possible the Bears tried to trade Ginn for whatever they could get before Tuesday’s deadline and found no takers.

Ginn, the ninth overall pick in the 2007 draft by the Miami Dolphins, has also played for the San Francisco 49ers, Carolina Panthers, Arizona Cardinals and New Orleans Saints. He was an impactful return man at one point in time, with four punt return and three kickoff return touchdowns in his career. But in 13 previous seasons, he has topped 50 catches just three times, with no seasons reaching 800 yards and two seasons with more than four touchdowns.

There may be a contending team or two out there that will consider taking a rest-of-season flier on Ginn, then deploy him as an occasional downfield threat and return guy. But at 35 years old now, there’s a chance the Bears releasing him on Wednesday marks the end of Ginn’s career.