Former Patriots wide receiver Damiere Byrd joins Bears on one-year deal

Former New England Patriots wide receiver Damiere Byrd agreed to terms with the Chicago Bears on Tuesday, the organization announced.

It is a one-year deal for Byrd, who became an unrestricted free agent on March 17 after setting career highs in 2020.

Byrd, 28, caught 47 passes for 604 yards and one touchdown during his lone season with New England. He started 14 of 16 appearances and played 89 percent of the snaps in the process, ranking behind only linemen Mike Onwenu and Joe Thuney on the offensive side of the football.

The 5-foot-9, 180-pound speedster entered the NFL as an undrafted free agent out of South Carolina in 2015. Stops with the Carolina Panthers and Arizona Cardinals followed before Byrd signed a one-year pact with the Patriots last spring that included $1 million in base salary and $600,000 in guarantees.

“Our expectations for every player are to come in, work hard and help the team. Certainly, Damiere has done that,” Patriots head coach Bill Belichick said in December. “All the rest of it really has been what he’s earned on his own. Nobody’s given him anything. He’s come in there and competed for playing time and has put some pretty solid production — achieved that solid production with his playing time. So, that’s really a credit to him.”

New England’s current wideout depth chart stands with Nelson Agholor, Kendrick Bourne, Jakobi Meyers, N’Keal Harry, Gunner Olszewski, Isaiah Zuber, Kristian Wilkerson, Devin Smith and Tre Nixon, who went No. 242 overall out of Central Florida in the 2021 NFL draft last Saturday.

The window for free agents to factor into the league’s compensatory formula closed Monday at 4 p.m. ET.