3 Ex-Bears Still Without a Job After Cody Whitehair Signing

The Chicago Bears have been active this offseason as they’ve made a slew of moves such as trading Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers, acquiring Keenan Allen from the Los Angeles Chargers, and signing D’Andre Swift to a three-year deal in free agency.

In addition to Swift, the Bears signed Jonathan Owens, Kevin Byard, and Gerald Everett to multi-year deals in free agency. However, Chicago also lost a few key players from last year’s team like Darnell Mooney, Justin Jones, and D’Onta Foreman.

Along with those three players, you can now add veteran offensive lineman Cody Whitehair to the list as he reportedly signed a one-year, $2.5 million deal with the Las Vegas Raiders on Monday.

With Whitehair heading to the AFC West, multiple former Bears are still looking for their next opportunity. Many of these players won’t get signed until after the NFL Draft as teams focus on the future of their rosters. Let’s discuss some of these players who are in this spot.

1. Yannick Ngakoue

The veteran defensive lineman hasn’t garnered much interest this offseason. Ngauoke joined the Bears last August on a one-year, $10.5 million contract. Chicago expected the veteran pass rusher to be a factor off the edge like he was with the Indianapolis Colts in 2022 (9.5 sacks).

However, that wasn’t the case as Ngakoue only posted 22 combined tackles, seven quarterback hits, six tackles for loss, and four sacks in 13 games last season. 

The 29-year-old defensive end played 72 percent of defensive snaps, which was similar to what he did with the Colts (73 %), but the impact wasn’t the same. The former Bears defensive end likely won’t get signed until the summer as there are still a ton of veteran EDGE rushers left on the open market.

Ngakoue won’t get a $10.5 million deal this offseason after only having four sacks. However, he could be a serviceable option for a contending team looking for pass-rushing help/depth.