Realities of Market Seem to Escape Bears

Analysis: The Bears haven't been wise with their cash in free agency so far as much as they have been stubborn, cheap and short-sighted.

The Bears need to be all in on Danielle Hunter at this point.

Or Calvin Ridley.

Or Connor Williams.

Or Curtis Samuel

Or Chase Young.

Maybe even Arik Armstead.

The Bears haven't signed a defensive end, defensive tackle, wide receiver or center. Those were almost all of their need positions.

Meanwhile, the list of top players available during the second day of free agent negotiations thinned out greatly by Tuesday morning.

There is a great myth or talking point out in Bears nation that this is nothing unusual for GM Ryan Poles, that he tends to operate best in the background, quietly and on later days.

Signing Kevin Byard doesn't count. He was another team's discard just like the Bears discarded Eddie Jackson and Cody Whitehair, and signed before free agency.

Signing only D'Andre Swift since free agency negotiations began shouldn't be misconstrued, the argument goes, as an unwillingness by Poles to come to grips with the realities of early market costs at various positions. Poles just looks wisely for the best fits among players who don't cost as much, it's said.

NFL FREE AGENCY TRACKER FROM SI.COM

This is laughable.

Last year on Day 1 of free agency negotiations, the Bears came out and signed Tremaine Edmunds, T.J. Edwards and Nate Davis. That was just over $130 million on Day 1. Edwards is easily the best free agent they've signed since Poles became GM.

Even in 2022 they came out of the chute signing. They just didn't come out keeping.

Larrry Ogunjobi agreed to terms right away and then failed his physical so the deal was voided. After that, it was bargain bin shopping because the pivot was going cheap with people like Byron Pringle.

They wound up with people like Al-Quadin Muhammad and Matthew Adams. All three of those players eventually got into trouble with the law before the Bears even got to training camp. 

PFF graded the Bears signing of D'Andre Swift as a C- and the value of the signing as a C-

I disagree I give this a B or B+. Yes I know the Eagles had a nice offensive line. Yes I know Miles Sanders struggled after leaving Philly. I still love Swifts skill set. #Bears #DaBears

— Clay Harbor (@clayharbs82) March 12, 2024

This is beside the point. They didn't have money then to get top players.

Their deals also included a rebound contract for Justin Jones after they couldn't sign Ogunjobi, which was considered quite a drop. 

This time they weren't even able to keep Jones after all the top defensive tackles short of Sheldon Rankins have been signed. Rankins was a backup as recently as 2020 and 2021 with two different teams and has 29 1/2 sacks in eight years.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk suggested on WSCR's Mully & Haugh show Tuesday that Poles wisely has let the market settle first and then will come to get players at good value.

This is so much garbage. I'm not talking about what Florio said. I'm talking about what's left in free agency.

The better players are gone. The market left that's settling is pretty much loaded with players no one cared to sign while they were rushing to sign better players because THEY WEREN'T AS GOOD.

It really does look like the Bears weren't really on top of the whole concept that agents were going to demand more and get it because the cap went up $30 million this year. 

So the Bears need to be the team winning that last remaining top defensive player at this point, which would be Hunter. They'll need to pay too much now, probably more than they pay Montez Sweat for "the Sweat Effect," because he's top of the list right now as a scarce commodity.

Or maybe they need to be talking the Colts into trading 3-technique defensive tackle DeForest Buckner, even if he is getting long of tooth.

Or they need to talk the Bengals into a trade for Tee Higgins.

There are several ways they can save face in free agency.

They just can't come out of this with a win now. And none of this even includes the Justin Fields nightmare, which is a trading issue.

The Chicago Bears have already lost free agency 2024.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven