NFL.com's Ian Rapoport reported last week that the Green Bay Packers were prepared to cut ties with linebacker Desmond Bishop after failing to find a trade partner.
The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel's Ty Dunne confirmed Monday that Bishop officially will be released by the Packers. The team later announced, via a release, that Bishop indeed had been cut.
Bishop was one of the few defensive bright spots as the Packers' leading tackler in 2011 before missing the 2012 season with a ruptured right hamstring. The Packers once thought highly enough of Bishop to give him a four-year, $19 million contract, but now it looks like they will give the position to Brad Jones after Jones exceeded expectations in run support and pass coverage last season.
Cutting Bishop gives the Packers$3.464 million more in salary-cap room, Joel Corry of The National Football Post reported Monday. Bishop will count $800,000 on the 2014 salary cap, according to Corry.
Still recovering from hamstring surgery, Bishop was limited to side work during the Packers' recent minicamp. Although he expects to get the green light for training camp, the injury might have played a role in his release.
It will be interesting to see if Bishop lands on his feet with the Kansas City Chiefs or Oakland Raiders. He will visit the Chiefs on Wednesday and Thursday after spending Tuesday with the Minnesota Vikings, NFL.com's Ian Rapoport reported Tuesday morning. Chiefs general manager John Dorsey and Raiders general manager Reggie McKenzie were right-hand men to Packers general manager Ted Thompson's before landing with their current teams.
The Chiefs' 3-4 defense is the better scheme fit between the two teams. Dorsey surely realizes a healthy Bishop would be an upgrade over Akeem Jordan and fourth-round pick Nico Johnson next to Derrick Johnson.
UPDATE: Bishop told Jason Wilde of ESPNWisconsin.com that the Packersnever talked about him taking a pay cut and only considered either trading or releasing him.
"This is definitely a motivating factor," Bishop said. "Just from the standpoint of actually being cut, you figure it's going to happen to everybody eventually at some point in their career, but I felt like I was the type of player who can go out on their own time."
Follow Chris Wesseling on Twitter @ChrisWesseling.
