SmashMouth

Cameron Meredith is leaving his home to join the New Orleans Saints.

That wasn't his plan. Not necessarily, even though he knew it was a possibility when Chicago placed the lowest tender on him as a restricted free agent, then went out and spent big money to bring in wide receivers Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel.

Meredith is Chicago through and through. Brought up in Berwyn, Illinois, a suburb of the Windy City, Meredith was a college quarterback at Illinois State, a two-hour drive away in Normal, then made his name in the NFL as a receiver with the Bears.



So when Chicago decided not to match the Saints' two-year, $9.6 million offer, it was a little tough.

"You know, it's my home city, so you know of course a bit of a disappointment," Meredith said. "So it was a surprise, but at the end of the day I signed that letter agreement with the Saints knowing that was a possibility. I was expecting to be a Saint, but if the Bears matched, it wouldn’t have been bad either."

Chicago reportedly chose not to match the offer because of concerns about Meredith's surgically repaired knee. Meredith was coming off of a breakout season in 2016 when he tore his ACL and his MCL in last year's preseason, and the Bears' medical staff reportedly was not convinced about knee's stability.

Both New Orleans and the Baltimore Ravens signed off on Meredith's knee, though, and the 25-year-old wide receiver believes he'll be healthy in time for the start of training camp.

"I have not had any setbacks along the recovery process. I’m gaining strength day by day," Meredith said. "The main objective for me is to do as much as I can with the trainers to get ready for the season. My goal is to try and get back to training camp, but as long as there aren’t any setbacks or anything like that, it should not be any problem."

Meredith did not want to speculate on Chicago's evaluation of his knee.

“That’s not my place to say," Meredith said. "From what I know and what I've been told, I’m right on schedule, and I haven’t had any setbacks, and I should be A-OK, at least from the medical standpoint."

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