Control Bears: Free Agency Review…
I, Dalton Lewis, love the Chicago Bears.
I love them.
They’re my favorite team.
They’re my favorite anything.
I wanted to discuss the free agency period for the Chicago Bears and analyze their signings and trades. I think that this is a key aspect of team-building and will impact the Chicago Bears for years to come.
This is the third year of the rebuild for Ryan Poles, the general manager and genius behind the Bears management. He has drafted, traded, and signed people for three years in a mad attempt to create a winning atmosphere for Chicago football.
For the third year of the rebuild most of the positions are filled and don’t need an immediate upgrade. Center and safety needed upgrades because Cody Whitehair and Lucas Patrick and Eddie Jackson weren’t returning — and so their positions needed to be addressed.
Center — on the offensive line — was a problem last year. The Bears didn’t have elite center play. They brought in two new players to compete to start in that position to improve it. They traded for Ryan Bates, a player they have liked for years. He can play guard or center. They also signed Coleman Shelton — who was graded as the 17th best center in the league last year. That’s an upgrade over anything the Bears had last year.
Safety — the Bears cut Eddie Jackson to save money. He was one of the oldest and best Chicago Bears. I was sad to see him go. He was an icon for the Bears. They cut him because he got old and slow and $15 million is a lot for an old and slow safety. They responded by signing two people — one of them is a two-time All-Pro named Kevin Byard. People think that he’s too old and too slow. He should prove them wrong. Also signed for competition was Jonathan Owens — who is younger and stronger but has had many fewer interceptions. They will compete for the free safety position.
Running back — running back didn’t seem to me to be a position of need but the Bears clearly thought so. They immediately signed D’Andre Swift when free agency started. He ran for 4.6 yards per carry last year and is a fast and small back who catches balls well out of the backfield. The concern? He did have 4.6 yards per carry but that was behind the Philadelphia Eagles’ offensive line, the best line in the league. That may have inflated his numbers. Still, he might be a solid addition to an already good running back room.
The Bears already have an excellent tight end in Cole Kmet, but Gerald Everett signed to be the second tight end. Having a good second tight end is an excellent depth piece for a team. More weapons is a priority for the Bears. This is an additional weapon for the new quarterback — whoever that ends up being. (It will probably be Caleb Williams.) Gerald Everett reliably catches 40–50 balls a year. If he does that for the Bears that would be fantastic.
And the big move in free agency — the Bears traded a fourth-round pick for Keenan Allen. He’s well into his thirties, but he’s a great wide receiver who had a great year last year. He’s an elite slot receiver who runs great routes and gets open a lot. He’s one of those weapons that a quarterback needs. He counts $23 million against the salary cap which is reasonable for a top-echelon wide receiver. It’s similar to DJ Moore’s number. Losing a fourth-round pick hurts, but the Bears don’t have a huge number of needs. They can afford to draft fewer people and still develop and build through the draft as they claim to. They can always trade down repeatedly from the ninth pick in the draft.
Justin Fields — Justin Fields was my favorite Chicago Bear, and the team traded him for a measly sixth-round pick. This was a good decision. They wanted to do right by him, and that meant not having a situation in which he would be a backup stealing the spotlight from Caleb Williams or the new starter. He was an electric player capable of amazing highlights. He didn’t have the statistics that the Bears wanted from a starting quarterback. They needed to move on, and that meant moving him to a new situation. He asked to be moved to the Steelers so they traded him there. That’s a nice decision from management.
Overall, I approve of the Bears free agency. They addressed the center position and the safety position and the wide receiver position and the running back position and added depth across the board. I’m happy with the upgrades made by Ryan Poles and his team.
Thanks, and take care, friends.
