Of course, the draft comes on the heels of free agency. GM Ryan Poles has undertaken most of his team building activities already. In advance of next week's Draft, here's my thoughts on the Bears' non-minimum contracts forays into the free agency period followed by Draft scenarios evaluated from best-case to worst-case scenario.
FREE AGENCY
First, a reminder: there's no grade inflation here. A C is a solid, average move. A B is a good move. An A is a truly exceptional move. A D is bad. An F is a failure. Let's go!
Bears trade #144 to Buffalo for OG Ryan Bates
I love Ryan Bates. I love his tummy rub celebration with Trace McSorley that he did numerous times after protecting Trace's blind side for years. I love that he carved out a niche in the NFL. I even love that Poles decided to make a play for Bates as an RFA during his initial offseason as GM. I like the Bates contract in the Bears' hands with two unguaranteed years at $4M apiece.
I do not, however, love trading #144 for a player who figures to be a reserve for a team with a rookie QB. Poles needs to hoard picks...yet here he is trading away yet another pick. Bates was a cut candidate in Buffalo too, so while his contract provides good value in this market, the trade negates the net value coming to the Bears and then some.
Grade: D
Bears sign CB Jaylon Johnson to a 4-year, $76M deal
Johnson hasn't been the most consistent CB in the NFL during his four years as a pro, and he comes with a history of back injuries. That said, he possesses true top-of-the-league skills and he turned 24 this month. Keeping a guy like Johnson around is a slam dunk choice, even with a functional three-year guarantee.
Grade: B
Bears sign S Kevin Byard to a 2-year, $15M deal
This move I like, too. Functionally, this is a one-year, $8M deal for the 31-year-old former All Pro. Byard's play slipped last year, but he was still a real starter and looks like an ideal bridge candidate for the Bears. Ideally, Poles will draft a successor FS in the 3rd or 4th round of the draft, giving the rookie a chance to come along slowly while Byard holds the job.
He's no star, but he looks like a solid citizen at an affordable, market rate in the non-Xavier McKinney FS market.
Grade: B-
Bears sign RB D'Andre Swift to a 3-year, $24.5M deal
Woof. Not a good place to start the tampering period.
Pouring money into middle class free agents is a dicey proposition to begin with. Pouring money into RBs is a terrible idea. Pouring money into a middle class RB? Big yikes. A multi-year (two) guarantee to a middle class RB in free agency? There's no saving grace here.
Swift is 1.5 years younger than D'Onta Foreman. Beyond that, I can't tell the difference here, except that Swift got $15.3M guaranteed and Foreman got a veteran minimum deal.
Grade: F
Bears sign TE Gerald Everett to a 2-year, $12M deal
Love this. Everett presents an ideal TE2. The fact that he came on an extremely affordable one-year, $6.5M deal makes this move tremendous. The depth chart at TE is non-existent behind Cole Kmet, and rookie TEs are classically slow to adjust to life in the NFL. Everett should serve as a nice security blanket for Caleb Williams. He brings so much value to this roster.
Grade: A
Bears sign S Jonathan Owens to a 2-year, $4.75M deal
This kind of deal doesn't hurt in a big way...but there's no value. Owens isn't good. Owens is 28 and has never received a contract above the league minimum, yet Poles offered him a functional $2.6M guarantee. Yuck. Hopefully Owens has to fight to make the roster, which would make $1.5M of dead money left behind even worse. There's no upside and a bit of downside. Just find the street free agent instead.
Grade: F
Bears sign LB Amen Ogbongbemiga to a 1-year, $2.1M deal
It's good to sign special teamers. Cool.
Grade: C
Bears sign C Coleman Shelton to a 1-year, $3.5M deal
I'm not a big fan of Shelton. His ceiling is low and his floor is, too. That said, Shelton comes with meaningful starting experience, he's cheap, and he offers protection in case Poles can't find a starting C in the Draft.
Shelton being the starting C in September would be bad. But he'd be better than Lucas Patrick or Cody Whitehair.
Grade: C-
Bears trade QB Justin Fields to Pittsburgh for a 2025 6th round pick
Barf. Barf barf barf. Much electronic ink has been spilled on the Fields trade. I'm fine with Poles trading Fields given his desire to reset at QB and his belief that Fields can't be the guy to get the Bears over the hump. OK.
But there has to be value. And there's no value here. This trade values Fields as less than Mac Jones. That's a joke. If this was the market rate, I would've preferred to see Poles announce that Fields was the starter for 2024, that the Bears would bring Williams along slowly, and then trade Fields only after another team (i) struck out on their search for a new QB, or (ii) had a QB suffer an injury during the season. A future 6th is basically nothing and the condition is likely to bump this pick into a 4th. If it does, the trade will look even worse as a future 4th for a starting NFL QB is a truly horrendous deal.
I appreciate the locker room dynamic disaster of keeping the very-popular Fields in house while beginning the transition to Williams.
The grade reflects Poles' aggregate handling of the Fields situation.
Grade: F (if there was a lower grade, this move would receive that)
Bears trade #110 to Los Angeles Chargers for WR Keenan Allen
Yes please! Allen is 31 and heading for free agency this offseason...which means that Poles acquired a second #1 WR entering the final contract year of his career for just $23.1M this year. Again: yes please! The free agent WR class was a disaster and the Draft is risky. Allen is not risky. This is a great acquisition, limited in value only by the fact that the Bears need to allocate $23.1M of their cap to a 31-year-old.
Grade: A-
FREE AGENCY REVIEW
The individual moves were graded above, but giving a comprehensive view of free agency requires considering moves made and unmade.
In advance of free agency, Poles had a few essential tasks to complete, as follows:
- Acquire a new, good starting C.
- Find a DE2 to start opposite Montez Sweat.
- Replace Eddie Jackson at FS.
- Find a starting-caliber WR.
Uh oh. It's clear that Connor Williams' ACL tear torpedoed his market, but quality starting C options remained. Poles passed. OK.
The Bears' current DE2 is a misplaced DT (DeMarcus Walker). The current DE3 is probably minimum-salary vet Jake Martin. Not good!
The Byard signing makes me happy enough and the Allen trade is a big win.
Unfortunately, the Bears still have a number of needs, and Poles has continued his habit of trading picks for players on expiring deals. As a result, my dreams for having a cache of picks on hand to fill in the roster around Williams are gone. The cap space is gone. The end results are good in ways but they're below expectations thus far. The grade does get boosted by the Everett signing and Allen trade.
FREE AGENCY PERIOD GRADE: D+
