The Chicago Bears have had a very interesting off-season so far. They were the worst team in the National Football League in 2022 which awarded them the number one overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. They have since traded it away for a haul of other assets.
Now, ahead of the draft, GM Ryan Poles will use the cap space that he has (the most in the NFL by a wide margin) to fill out the rest of the roster. He isn’t going to build a Super Bowl contender in one off-season but getting some good players is important for the next step in the rebuild.
On Monday, we saw the team start to load up a little bit. There are three players that the Chicago Bears are going to be sure to sign based on the reports that came out.
It is always interesting to see how a bad team does during this time because it could, if everything goes right, help them take a big step forward.
The Chicago Bears are going to use free agency to their advantage this year.
They agreed to four signings on Monday and this is how they should be graded based on positional need, cost, and fit for the team:
1. T.J, Edwards
T.J. Ewards was the first player signed by the Bears on Monday. He is someone that is really going to help this team’s linebacker core. He is a linebacker coming from the team that just won the NFC and was the Super Bowl runner-up.
That kind of experience on a bargain of a contract is really going to help this Bears defense take a step. That kind of experience can really push a team forward as they build for the future.
The Bears are giving him 19.5 million (12 million guaranteed) over three years which is a good contract for a player of his caliber. He picked a good year, a contract year, to be sixth in the NFL with 99 solo tackles. The Bears needed a guy like this and they got one.
Grade: A
2. Tremaine Edmunds
Tremaine Edmunds is going to help the Chicago Bears’ defense take a big step.
Tremaine Edmunds came after the TJ Edwards signing which was really cool for Bears fans. In a short time span, they fixed their linebacker room which had a huge void following the departure of Roquan Smith.
Now, they have both Edwards and Edmunds plus the assets they received from the Baltimore Ravens for Smith. This was a masterclass by Ryan Poles and his staff as the linebacker room is set for 2023 and beyond.
Edmunds and his 72 million dollar deal over four years is the largest four-year contract an NFL inside linebacker has ever gotten. He will make the Bears a much better team so it is obviously well-earned and well-spent money by both sides.
The Bears have always had good linebackers and now they are trending in that direction again. Edmunds has been in the league for five years and is only entering his age-25 season which is remarkable.
The fact that there is still room for him to grow should be scary for the rest of the NFC North. He played for a very good Buffalo Bills team over the last few seasons and even made a couple of Pro Bowls. The former first-round pick (16th overall) has lived up to the hype.
Grade: A
3. Nate Davis
The Chicago Bears are bringing in Nate Davis in a very eventful off-season.
The Chicago Bears need a lot of help on their offensive line. Protecting Justin Fields needs to be one of the team’s most pressing concerns this offseason and every off-season of his career. If they want it to be a long career, they will do what they can to protect him.
On Monday, it came out that the Bears were going to have a deal with Nate Davis who has spent every year of his four-year NFL tenure with the Tennessee Titans. He isn’t one of those future Hall of Fame guys or anything like that but he is sure to bring some stability to the guard position.
They need a guy like this to come in and just play the position well. He isn’t franchise-altering or anything like that but getting him to come in and be the starter is something that Ryan Poles and his staff can be happy with.
They probably aren’t done adding offensive linemen this off-season but now they have a pretty good one coming in which is great news. Hopefully, he plays well enough with the rest of the crew to get the job done over the duration of his contract with the team.
Grade: B
4. DeMarcus Walker
DeMarcus Walker is going to fit right in on the 2023 Chicago Bears team.
They weren’t done agreeing to deals with Tennessee Titans players on Monday night after Nate Davis either. They are also going to be bringing DeMarcus Walker to the group. He is a defensive end that has spent his career split between a few different teams.
Walker was a second-round (51st overall) pick by the Denver Broncos in the 2017 NFL Draft. He played there for four years before one with the Houston Texans and then one with the Tennessee Titans. It was in 2022 with Tennessee that he put all of his skills together.
As a result of his season in which he had 7.0 sacks, he earned a big contract with the Bears who absolutely need good pass rushers. He is coming to the Bears on a three-year deal with an average annual value of seven million dollars. It is an outstanding contract for him.
Grade: B
The Chicago Bears are certainly not done after these signings. They are going to be all over the place this off-season as they try to improve their squad. With the way that the 2022 season went, it is nice to see them try to get it going again in the next phase of the rebuild.
Hopefully, this paves the way for other players in future free-agent classes to see the Chicago Bears as a great NFL destination.