Just business: Ex-Bear Amos has ‘no hard feelings’ after joining Packers – Chicago Sun-Times

Bears general manager Ryan Pace has rewarded his best young players with long-term extensions, but safety Adrian Amos isn’t bummed that he wasn’t one of them.

“Of course, you feel [disrespected], but it’s not hard feelings. I don’t hold any grudges or anything,” Amos said in the Packers’ locker room Sunday. “Throughout my career, when you feel like you’re not getting the respect you deserve, there’s feelings there. But when it’s all said and done, none of that matters. It’s not like I’m going to fight Pace or anything like that.”

On the contrary, it was Pace who helped make Amos a millionaire. He drafted Amos in the fifth round in 2015, put him in a Vic Fangio defense and surrounded him with playmakers who gave Amos optimum exposure and opportunity.

Amos took advantage of that and, in effect, priced himself out of the Bears’ market. He signed a four-year, $36 million contract that will pay him $14 million this season. With All-Pro safety Eddie Jackson up for an extension after this season, the Bears aren’t in a position to invest that much at safety when maintaining the front seven is a priority. They signed former Packers safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix to a one-year, $3.25 million contract.

Amos knows it was just business.

“It wasn’t really hard at all [leaving the Bears],” he said. “It was my dream to get my second contract, and this is the team that wanted me. It’s been great ever since.”

The Amos/Clinton-Dix “trade” will be interesting to watch from a cost-efficiency standpoint. Amos was a starter from

Week 1 of his rookie season who improved every year as the Fangio defense took hold. But despite good production in his last two seasons — three interceptions, one touchdown, two forced fumbles, two fumble recoveries and a sack — he was a complementary player seen more as a beneficiary of the Bears’ standout defense rather than an initiator of it.