Chicago Bears: Ranking Ryan Pace’s top 5 worst free agency signings
By Ryan Heckman
3. S Antrel Rolle
Pace decided to give 32-year-old Antrel Rolle a three year, $11.5 million contract back in 2015. Rolle had spent his previous five seasons with the New York Giants and was coming off one of the worst overall years of his career.
Over the course of the 2015 campaign, Rolle earned a ranking of 81 out of a total of 87 qualifying safeties, according to Pro Football Focus. He was almost dead last when it came to defending the run.
Yet, somehow, Rolle got himself a three year contract out of Pace and the Bears. Even worse, he was only on the field for seven games in Chicago. In those seven games, Rolle registered a total of 30 tackles, only one pass defended and zero forced turnovers.
His $5 million cap hit took a toll on the Bears’ payroll that year and he didn’t even play half the season. The Bears cut ties with him following that year.
In 2017, Pace took another shot on a not-so-young safety in Quintin Demps. We all know how that experiment ended. Once again, Pace saw a veteran safety miss the majority of his season after writing the check.
Thankfully, the Bears now have themselves a pair of young, promising safeties in Jackson and Adrian Amos.