Chicago Bears: Top 5 free agent targets

3. Jay Ajayi

Number three on our list is a bit of a surprise and may have fallen off some peoples’ radar. Remember Jay Ajayi? You may be thinking, “oh yeah, what happened to that guy?” Well, he was part of a blockbuster (surprising) trade between the Miami Dolphins and the Philadelphia Eagles just before the trade deadline in 2017.

However, approximately one year after being acquired, Ajayi suffered a grade 3 ACL tear and missed the entire season. Ajayi was expected to play a huge role in the Eagles’ offense and has been an incredibly productive player throughout his career.

Why could he be intriguing to the Bears? Well, they have an opportunity to get an incredibly talented player on a relatively cheap deal. Because Ajayi is coming off a serious injury he is not going to get the long-term lucrative deal he was likely hoping for. Rather, he could be forced to take a one-year “prove it” type deal in the hopes of scoring a big pay-day the following year.

For the Bears, if they are looking to bring another skill set into their backfield to complement Jordan Howard and Tarik Cohen, the dynamic Ajayi would be a great fit. He could also serve as a one-year stopgap should the Bears be “wowed” by an offer for Howard and trade him this offseason.