What the Chicago Bears’ first 5 free agent signings bring to the table

What Nicholas Morrow brings to the Chicago Bears

It was pretty unorthodox, at least from the fans’ perspective, to see the Bears bring in two defensive players to begin free agency. But, Nicholas Morrow could prove to be an extremely valuable signing as time goes on.

The former Raiders linebacker is 26 years old and comes to Chicago after a career season was ended by a foot injury. Still, in his last two seasons, Morrow was proving to be a force — he just wasn’t getting the notoriety.

The young linebacker ran a mid-4.4 in his 40-yard dash, joining Roquan Smith as another lethal backer with sideline-to-sideline speed. Morrow is a guy who typically does the job by himself, racking up a ton of solo tackles.

Over the last two seasons with Las Vegas, Morrow tallied 151 total tackles in 19 starts — and 115 of them were solo.

In 11 games last season, Morrow also came up with an impressive nine passes defensed. That would be a solid number for a safety, but Morrow plays linebacker. He’s proven he can drop back into coverage, but he’s also a willing blitzer, coming up with 3.0 sacks last year as well.

Morrow could absolutely be a long-term piece to this defense. For now, he offers a lot of excitement paired up with another quick linebacker in Smith.