Top 5 Offensive Free Agents the Chicago Bears Should Pursue
By Ryan Heckman
The offensive arsenal is no where near where it needs to be. Here are five players Ryan Pace should target.
The Chicago Bears were near the bottom of the league in overall offensive output in 2017, but have a few pieces in place to turn that around this season. Mitch Trubisky showed some promise in his rookie campaign, but did so without any household names aside from stud running back Jordan Howard.
Ryan Pace did a nice job in the 2017 NFL Draft finding a couple of young, promising offensive weapons in Tarik Cohen and Adam Shaheen, but it’s going to take more than youthful, developing players to get his quarterback to the next level.
While the backfield is exciting and one of the more well-balanced ones in all of football with Howard and Cohen, the receiving corps has been lackluster to say the least. Kendall Wright became Trubisky’s go-to guy down the stretch. Other than Wright, there was hardly any consistency from the rest of the group.
Shaheen showed flashes in the second half of the season when he finally got the chance to run some routes — of course, that was a product of an offensive coordinator holding him back. Dowell Loggains didn’t do anyone any favors in that offense, and that’s being kind. But, aside from Shaheen, the tight end position could use some improvements as well, especially with Shaheen in only his second year.
Aside from offensive weapons, the Bears need depth at offensive line in a bad way. We all saw what happens when Kyle Long gets hurt. He’s just one guy, sure, but without him, the rest of the line isn’t the same. On the edge, Charles Leno Jr. gets the job done, but Bobby Massie has underperformed ever since coming to Chicago. The line has been solid at times, but depth here is absolutely an issue.
With all of that said, the coming weeks are pivotal for Pace and the Bears. When the new league year opens March 14th, the offensive side of the football must be addressed in free agency. If Pace can land two or three of the following players, he’ll leave his team in much better shape going into next season.