Chicago Bears: Top 5 free agent targets

Though they won’t be as aggressive as last year, the Chicago Bears will still be a player in the free agent market.

This past offseason was an aberration for the Chicago Bears. There was such a flurry of activity, it seemed news was regularly trickling out about their involvement with some of the top free agent names on the market.

It certainly made for an exciting time of year for fans. However, for those expecting a similar bonanza this year, you may be setting yourself up for disappointment. The reality is the team simply doesn’t have the salary cap space to make the same type of splash it made last year when it signed so many impactful players like Allen Robinson, Trey Burton, and Taylor Gabriel.

However, that doesn’t mean they can’t get creative and go hard after one of those types of players. If they have their eye on a more top-tier free agent, it will require Pace to free up more cap space either through cutting players like Dion Sims and Sam Acho, or restructuring contracts like they could with Kyle Long or even Khalil Mack. That might give them enough wiggle room to make a somewhat of a splash. However, that move comes with risks, as it would prevent them from using that money to address multiple positions.

Nevertheless, they will be active in the free agent market so we thought we’d look at the top five players Ryan Pace could target. Before we get to the list, some assumptions must be made. First, we will assume that they do not bring back either Bryce Callahan or Adrian Amos. While the smart move is to re-sign Callahan, for the purposes of this piece, we’ll assume neither returns.