Bears Trade Gabe Carimi

By Benjy Lipsman in News on Jun 10, 2013 3:40PM

In their seemingly endless attempts to shore up their offensive line, the Bears appear to have admitted failure once again with word they traded 2011 first-round draft pick Gabe Carimi to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers for a sixth-round pick.

Selected 29th overall out of Wisconsin, the six-foot, seven-inch, 316-pound Carimi raked in a number of awards with the Badgers before coming to Chicago. The Bears had viewed him as their long term solution at right tackle, but injuries sidetracked his progress. In just his second pro game, he suffered a season-ending injury that forced him to miss most of the 2011 season. He played in all 16 games in 2012, starting 14. But he lost his job at right tackle to Jonathan Scott before injuries on the O-line paved his way to playing at guard. Off-season signings and better performance by others on the team suggested Carimi's likely place would continue to be on the interior of the line in 2013--if he could even win a starting position at all.

Carimi has skipped all of the Bears' recent voluntary off-season workouts, suggesting there was some displeasure on the part of Carimi at being slotted in at guard by new head coach Marc Trestman. But Bears GM Phil Emery said last week that the Bears respected Carimi’s decision to train on his own, noting that OTAs are voluntary, and he'd be welcomed back with open arms when mandatory minicamp begin this week. Instead, pending a physical, Carimi will be attending off-season workouts with the Bucs.

With Carimi's departure, there are no longer any first-round picks from the Jerry Angelo era on the Bears’ roster. As the Bears GM from 2002 until 2011, he made seven first round picks. Some showed flashes of promise, but either their skills faded or they didn't fit the Bears schemes. All three offensive lineman drafted by Angelo would be labeled flops—Marc Columbo in 2002, Chris Williams in 2009 and Carimi in 2011. As Angelo's replacement, Emery again used the Bears' first round pick on an offensive lineman when he took Kyle Long out of Oregon with the 20th pick in this year's draft. Hopefully, Emery's eye for line talent is better than Angelo's.