The Bears gave up on another of their highly touted recent draft choices Monday, trading 1998 fourth-round pick Alonzo Mayes to the Miami Dolphins for a 2001 seventh-round draft choice in a closing statement to what insiders say had been a mild tug-of-war within the Bears’ organization.
The trade was the 19th in barely three years by personnel director Mark Hatley and signaled the latest in a long line of failed attempts to find a top-shelf tight end for the franchise that defined the position in the 1960s with Mike Ditka. The trade rids the roster of a player that coaches and some key members of the offense were believed to be against keeping past the final roster cuts. They preferred veteran Ryan Wetnight, a more accomplished receiver and special-teams player, who signed last weekend with the Green Bay Packers.
But the personnel area prevailed on keeping Mayes because of belief in his potential or trade value. Indeed, talks involving Mayes with the Dolphins, whose personnel operations are overseen by former Bears pro personnel director Rick Spielman, have been ongoing since early in the season.
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Mayes started 25 games in his first two seasons, including all 16 as a rookie, and three of five this season. He caught four passes for 40 yards this season after 21 his rookie season and eight last year.
“He never did get on the same page with us,” Hatley said. “He wasn’t as productive as we hoped he would be. I thought he had gotten better and done some things to get his weight down and stuff, but for whatever reason, we couldn’t get on the same page.”
Mayes’ departure comes barely a month after 1999 No. 2 pick Russell Davis was cut.
Mayes’ Bears career started poorly and never righted itself. Rated by some scouts as a possible first-round pick coming out of Oklahoma State, Mayes tested positive for marijuana before the 1998 draft and fell to the fourth round. His agent took the position that his real value was higher than the fourth-round contract slot, and Mayes held out until Aug. 2 before signing a three-year deal with a $280,000 signing bonus.
His position coach with the Dolphins will be Pat Jones, his coach at Oklahoma State.
“I think the style of offense they’re running in Chicago really doesn’t match up with the type of player that [Mayes] is and was when we drafted him,” said Dolphins coach Dave Wannstedt, the Bears’ coach when Mayes was drafted. “I think this will be a good opportunity for him. For what we traded for him, to get a guy with that kind of talent, you’ve got to do it.”
Mayes made no secret of his disappointment at being beaten out for the starting job by John Allred before the season started. His play deteriorated with dropped passes and three penalties this season, including a holding infraction Sunday at Green Bay that forced Paul Edinger to re-kick what would be the game’s deciding field goal from 10 yards farther out.
Allred may start at fullback/H-back Sunday against the New Orleans Saints if Curtis Enis’ bruised shoulder is not sufficiently healed. The starting tight end then would be newly signed Kaseem Sinceno, not No. 3 draft pick Dustin Lyman, who made his first NFL start at Green Bay.
Sinceno, who followed former Bears tight end Chris Gedney at Syracuse, caught three passes for Philadelphia in 1998, where he was coached by current Bears tight ends coach Jim Bollman. He spent 1999 on injured reserve with a foot injury. Sinceno went to camp this year with Green Bay, but was waived before the season.
The Bears still have hopes for Lyman, who is progressing in his move from linebacker at Wake Forest to tight end in the NFL.
“[Lyman’s] playing time will be affected by how he plays when he gets his time,” said coach Dick Jauron. “I thought he played better against Green Bay; a little more confident in his blocking, a little more assertive. Once he knows what he’s doing, then he can let his athletic ability take control.
“But I don’t see him stepping up into, let’s say, the second tight end position or the first. I see him still filling that role, and then as he gets more and more experience, maybe he can step up.”