Chicago Bears: Overlooked, intriguing free agents still available

Defensive End Ezekiel Ansah

Remember last year, when Bears fans were all over the idea of signing Ezekiel Ansah away from the Lions? It was a nice dream, but the Lions ultimately slapped him with the franchise tag and that was the end of it.

Last year, Ansah only appeared in seven games, starting two of them. The final injury of 2018 ended his season in early December, and likely ended his Lions career as well.

Because his healthy is one of the question marks, Ansah’s value probably dipped quite a bit this year. Still, as a versatile player who the Bears could choose to line up off the edge or at defensive end, Ansah would benefit this defense greatly.

If healthy, Ansah would be more like a multi-dimensional weapon which Pagano could deploy whenever he wanted, but I’d be excited to see him out there at defensive end on some occasion. Picture he, Khalil Mack, Leonard Floyd and Akiem Hicks all rushing the quarterback on the same play. That sounds quite scary.

Over his six seasons with Detroit, Ansah totaled 48.0 sacks. He made the Pro Bowl once back in 2015, where he notched a career-high 15.0 sacks. He’s still available, and there hasn’t been much chatter about him. This could get interesting.