When the legal tampering window opened last month, fans across the Windy City and country were hoping that the Chicago Bears would make a big splash in free agency to land a top-tier pass rusher such as Trey Hendrickson.
The Bears have a desperate need for another star-studded pass rusher after only recording 35 sacks last season. While that was good enough to win the NFC North and make the playoffs, everyone realized that type of production won’t work in 2026, and general manager Ryan Poles must strike the iron while it's hot with Caleb Williams still on his rookie deal.
However, those Hendrickson dreams quickly disappeared. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune said on 104.3 The Score days before free agency, “I don’t think they’re in the Trey Hendrickson sweepstakes.” And as we saw, Hendrickson signed a colossal four-year, $112 million deal ($60 million guaranteed) with the Baltimore Ravens.
Despite the Bears not getting involved in the Hendrickson sweepstakes or going after Jaelan Phillips, who signed a four-year, $120 million deal with the Carolina Panthers. They were able to spend their cap space on Coby Bryant and Devin Bush, who will make an immediate impact in Dennis Allen’s defense.
Bears Made Right Choice to Not Hand Out Huge Deal for a Pass Rusher
The additions of Bryant and Bush covered two positions of need for Chicago: safety and linebacker.
Bryant, who was signed to a three-year, $40 million deal ($25.7 million guaranteed), is taking over for Kevin Byard III, who led the league in interceptions (7), and signed a one-year deal with the New England Patriots.
Bryant is five years younger than Byard and is a ballhawk too, recording seven interceptions over the last two years with the Seattle Seahawks. As for Bush, he’s taking over for Tremaine Edmunds, who the Bears released, which freed up $15 million in cap space.
The Bears handed Bush a three-year, $30 million deal ($21 million guaranteed). If you do the math, the two contracts in total cost $70 million. And the combined AAVs for Bush and Byard are $23 million, while Hendrickson’s AAV is $28 million.
If you’re the Bears, you got two players for one, which isn’t a bad trade-off. As much as fans wanted them to break the bank in free agency, they did that last year with Drew Dalman, Grady Jarrett, and Dayo Odeyingbo.
The Dalman signing was billed as advertised last season. Meanwhile, Jarrett and Odeyingbo left much to be desired in their own ways. At this point, the Bears need to spend their draft capital to draft a pass rusher or two later this month.
It’s not the most appealing idea, considering Cam Jordan, Joey Bosa, and Jadeveon Clowney all signing in free agency. However, if Poles can hit a home run on a couple of pass rushers in the draft, it could set the Bears up for long-term success on defense.
The best teams build through the draft, not win on paper in free agency. It’s that simple, and seeing how last year’s free agency went, it probably played a role in how the Bears went about their business this time around.