To say that the Chicago Bears' secondary has taken a big hit in free agency would be a huge understatement. The league leaders in interceptions lost Kevin Byard III and Nahshon Wright, who combined for 12 picks last season, along with CJ Gardner-Johnson, Jonathan Owens, and Jaquan Brisker.
While this unit was due for an overhaul, the Bears haven't done much to address all those departures. Considering that, and with the first wave of free agency in the books, they might want to make a run at Jamal Adams.
Jamal Adams Makes Perfect Sense for the Chicago Bears
Jamal Adams has a bit of an unfair reputation. He never lived up to the lofty price the Seattle Seahawks paid to get him, but that doesn't mean he hasn't been a serviceable and consistent player for most of his career.
He's been healthy, and he's coming off a decent season with the Las Vegas Raiders. He played in all 17 games and started four, logging 45 total tackles (30 solo), five tackles for loss, two QB hits, one pass defensed, and one sack. Notably, it was his first season playing double-digit games since he suited up for 12 contests in 2021.
Despite playing just 448 snaps, Pro Football Focus gave him a 67.3 grade, which ranked 33rd among 88 eligible safeties. He was solid against the run (62.3, 59th), logging 23 run stops on 166 run defense snaps. He was slightly better as a pass rusher (71.4, 21st), logging seven total pressures and giving up a passer rating of 98.6 when targeted.
Granted, Adams has drawn plenty of heat for not creating many turnovers. He hasn't intercepted a pass since he had two picks in 2021, and the Bears excelled at picking off passes with DB Al Harris' tutelage. That said, there's much more to playing defensive back than interceptions, and Harris has turned non-playmaking defensive backs into turnover machines.
Even if that's not the case, the Bears' defense relied far too much on turnovers and big plays, and they were also burned by huge gains multiple times. Adams may not be flashy or flip the field, but he'll hit hard and won't allow the defense to die from a thousand paper cuts like happened last season.
More than that, he wouldn't even require that much money to get to the Windy City. Spotrac projects his next contract at just one year and $1.163 million. The Bears have $1.18 million in available cap space, per Over The Cap, so they need low-cost pickups like him.