Bears decline to match Cameron Meredith's offer sheet from Saints

4:13 PM ET

The Chicago Bears declined to match the New Orleans Saints' two-year, $10 million offer sheet to restricted free-agent wide receiver Cameron Meredith on Wednesday.

Meredith confirmed the news during an appearance on ESPN 1000 in Chicago.

Bears general manager Ryan Pace and coach Matt Nagy met with Meredith to inform him of the decision, a source told ESPN's Adam Schefter. The Bears' call was mainly a medical decision as Meredith is coming off a torn ACL and MCL, and the team was hesitant to commit that much money to a player coming off such a serious knee injury.

Meredith gives the Saints another big target to pair with 6-foot-3, 212-pound Pro Bowler Michael Thomas and veteran speedster Ted Ginn Jr. He will likely compete with Ginn and Willie Snead for the No. 2 and No. 3 roles in New Orleans' receiving corps.

The Bears had issued an original-round tender to Meredith, valued at $1.9 million, so the Bears receive no draft pick compensation from the Saints because Meredith was an undrafted free agent.

Meredith, 25, had a breakout season in 2016 with 66 receptions for 888 yards and four touchdowns, but suffered the devastating knee injury in a preseason game last summer at Tennessee.

He expressed confidence in January that he'll be ready by the beginning of training camp, but the nasty nature of the knee injury he sustained makes it impossible to accurately predict when he will back, or if he'll be the same receiver he once was.

Joining the Saints reunites Meredith with wide receivers coach Curtis Johnson, who previously served in the same role for the Bears.

After going undrafted in 2015, Meredith signed with the Bears as a free agent out of Illinois State and appeared in 11 games as a rookie where he caught 11 passes for 120 yards.

The Bears were aggressive in addressing the wide receiver position in free agency, spending heavily to land Allen Robinson (three years for $42 million; $25.2 million guaranteed) and Taylor Gabriel (four years, $26 million; $14 million guaranteed).

The Saints still had the No. 2 offense in the NFL last season -- and the No. 5 passing offense. But they had some very uncharacteristic struggles on third downs, finishing 19th in the league with a conversion rate of 37.6 percent -- in large part due to Snead's struggles after he was so good in that role in years past.

Saints coach Sean Payton labeled the receiver position as a "must" during last month's league meetings after the team missed out on some other targets in free agency. The Saints made a strong push to re-sign tight end Jimmy Graham before they decided that his price tag got too high. And they had scheduled a visit with receiver Jordy Nelson before he signed with the Oakland Raiders. They also re-signed veteran tight end Benjamin Watson two weeks ago.

Meredith spent at least half of his time in the slot during his breakout season in Chicago -- which is where he could fit best in New Orleans, as well. But he has the versatility to play inside and outside.

ESPN's Mike Triplett and Jeff Dickerson contributed to this report.

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