Chicago Bears: Team should pursue Mike Daniels

The Chicago Bears are loaded on defense, however the team should explore adding an ex-Green Bay Packers player to the defense.

As the Chicago Bears get ready to report to Bourbonnais for training camp, expectations seem like they are Super Bowl or bust for the Bears. As good as the Bears are on defense, General Manager Ryan Pace has always preached that the team needs to have an aggressive mindset when building the roster.

Although the Bears don’t necessarily need a defense end considering many believe that Bilal Nichols is set to breakout in 2019, however with the report that longtime Packers defensive end Mike Daniels is set to be released, the Bears need to bring Daniels in for multiple reasons.

A major reason that Daniels would make sense for the Bears is the fact that although he’s 30 years-old, he’s been one of the more underrated players on the Packers defensive line for the last few years. Since entering the league in 2012, Daniels has notched 29 sacks and 47 tackles for loss.

A second big reason that Daniels makes so much sense for the Bears is due to the contract that he’d likely demand. At this point in the year, with training camps opening up all across the NFL, it’s very unlikely that a team approaches Daniels with a multi-year offer on the table. In other words, no matter which team offers him a contract, Daniels will likely end up getting a one-year, prove it deal.

This works out for the Bears because Daniels would be set out to prove his former team wrong. Additionally, the Bears wouldn’t lost much besides one year’s worth of money because they’d structure Daniels contract in such a way where there is very little guaranteed money at all.

Although Daniels is one of the more underrated defensive line players in the game today, one of the major red flags with him is his injury history. He’s only played in 72 games since 2012 and has not played a full season since 2016. In 2018, Daniels appeared in just ten games with nine starts.

Overall, if the Bears do decide to pursue Daniels, then what the team is getting is a low-risk, high-reward player. On the outside, adding an ex-Packers play may not be something that many want to see, however, this could be a short term move that would pay off if Daniels can stay healthy. The Bears don’t need Daniels, however if his price is cheap and he’s willing to play for a Super Bowl contender, then the two sides are a perfect fit.