What's Left for Bears to do in Free Agency 2018?

Chicago Staleys said:

Who to cut yet?

* Freeman?

Isn’t Freeman a Free Agent?? So essentially he is not on the roster to cut.

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No.

Hammer said:

QB - good
RB - maybe one more depth guy (if they don't think Mizzell is the guy)
FB - good
TE - get rid of Sims
WR - need one more depth guy (who can play slot)
O-Line - need starter caliber LG/C type

D-Line - need one more depth 5-tech DE, maybe depth NT (if Coward is not the guy)
OLB - need starter caliber pass rusher
ILB - need starter or rotational caliber player (depending of what they think of Kwiatkowski and this Freeman conundrum)
CB - need 1-2 depth guys with some upside
S - maybe another depth guy with upside (if they think Hall/Bush are busts)

S/P/LS - need a long snapper

There are 3 key issues (OLB, O-Line and maybe ILB) with #8, #39 and some FA money to fix it.
Other minor depth issues can be solved via. dumpster diving and late round picks.

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QB is set. I doubt they even draft a guy. Probably see a UDFA for the practice squad

RB. Mizzell is interesting, but I think they look in the 5th or later for a guy that may be able to be the main inside the tackle RB if Howard gets hurt.

WR they'll draft a guy here. Meredith, White and Bellamy are all FAs after the year. I think a guy with a lot of speed with one of the 4ths.

TE- Sims ship has sailed. He's on the roster for 2018. This position is probably set.

OL- I think the biggest need is a starting OL. If the Bears have 1 more big move in them, I'd hope it's here. Mewhort, Pouncey, even Joeckel. If not, looking at either Nelson at 8 or interior OL at 39. Could see an OT drafted later in the draft depending on what the team does with Morgan (read him as a RT in some places).

DL- I think RRH is due for a big year. But I'd like to take the pressure off of him some by adding a vet, a starting caliber player for a couple million. Dominique Easley, Shamar Stephen, or Cedric Thornton make sense. But honestly RRH, Bullard, and Coward may be enough.

OLB- I think they are OK here. Lynch was OK last year, though wasn't a force rushing the passer. Assuming he's motivated under Fangio again, he's solid across from Floyd. Acho is Mr. Reliable. Irving is developmental depth. Draft pick at 8 or more likely 39 makes this an OK group.

ILB- Only reason not to see what Navarro Bowman wants is if the Bears plan on Edmunds or Smith at 8. If not, the Bears need a starter. Not sold on Kwiatkoski yet. Freeman hanging around may also be a sign of insurance in case the Bears don't get the ILB they want at 8.

CB- I'd look to bring in a vet to replace Cooper. Delvin Breaux, Dontae Johnson, Philip Gaines or Pierre Desir make sense here. If the Bears want to spend big on EJ Gaines for the slot, i wouldn't complain either. But I don't think the Bears are sold on Callahan (due to health) and I wouldn't be surprised if they had little interest in re-signing him. A CB with one of the 4ths could be in the cards.

S- I think they'll add a vet here that's capable of playing special teams. I also think they'd like to play more 3 safety sets in the nickel/dime next year. They have interest in Morgan Burnett, but I think he can get a starting job somewhere. I think they are looking more at Ron Parker (never been a special teamer), Michael Thomas (Dolphins), or maybe our good friend, Corey Graham wants to come back to Chicago.

Long snapper- who cares? They'll find someone.

Get another LB, some vet olineman & some DBs...maybe another WR

Sculpt said:

We have to leave room for our 7 draft picks... especially Rds 1-4. Space for Starters, and space on the 53-man roster.

Starting G??? Like if we were to sign an expensive starting G in FA yet, what if we draft Nelson or McGlinchey? We'd have to bench that FA guy... cause if all healthy we'd run Leno, Nelson, Whitehair, Long, Massie. And we have Kush and Morgan, so I don't think it would be wise, unless maybe replacing Kush.

For DL or OLB... I could see maybe another FA for both, because there's rotation going on, but I could see Pace planning on getting at least one of each in draft as starters.

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Rookies will cost $7,532,556 but re-signings should be the priority right now.

1. $3,372,292
2. $1,247,385
4. $728,029
4. $657,711
5. $555,204
6. $522,873
7. $503,600

Mathematically speaking they need to sign 12-15 guys just to head into the draft with the right number of players.

Sculpt said:

We have to leave room for our 7 draft picks... especially Rds 1-4. Space for Starters, and space on the 53-man roster.

Starting G??? Like if we were to sign an expensive starting G in FA yet, what if we draft Nelson or McGlinchey? We'd have to bench that FA guy... cause if all healthy we'd run Leno, Nelson, Whitehair, Long, Massie. And we have Kush and Morgan, so I don't think it would be wise, unless maybe replacing Kush.

For DL or OLB... I could see maybe another FA for both, because there's rotation going on, but I could also see Pace planning on getting at least one of each in draft as rotational-starters.

OLB1: Floyd, Acho, Irving
OLB2: Draft, Lynch,

DE1: Bullard/Draft
NT: Goldman, Draft
DE2: Hicks, Robertson-Harris


CB - assuming we keep all the guys we tendered, we don't need anymore CB (Fuller, Amukamara, Callahan, Leblanc, Mincy, Grant) and a draft

S - No, don't need anymore Safeties, we have a corral of dudes under draft contracts (Jackson, Amos, Hall, Bush, Houston-Carson) and then maybe a late draft, but I doubt it.

ILB - If we cut Freeman, I could maybe see a cheap FA, but we have Anderson and maybe a draft

RB - Again, it would be nice to have a large RB to backup Howard, but we could draft a RB (Howard, Cohen, Draft, Mizzell). I don't know what Nagy has in mind, but Cunningham was a decent backup 3rd down back.

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You don't really leave room for anyone, the players at the bottom are pushed off the roster or to the practice squad.

We absolutely need one more player to compete to start at OL, can't be forced to take a guard in round 1 or 2. At least someone to compete there.

The back up safeties are very bad, and a cheap vet can be had to be the third safety.

Same with corner. Mincey and Grant at outside corner if Fuller or (inevitably) Prince miss time? Nope.

I'm not saying we will sign all of those positions in FA, but all those are holes for sure. You have 'and a draft' at pretty much every position. Some of those draft picks aren't going to be read for the NFL.

dennehy said:

You don't really leave room for anyone, the players at the bottom are pushed off the roster or to the practice squad.

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Well I'm talking about large-to-medium FA signing, not minimum salaries. That goes without saying. You don't want a multi-million dollar FAs on the bench. You want to play your drafts.

dennehy said:

We absolutely need one more player to compete to start at OL, can't be forced to take a guard in round 1 or 2. At least someone to compete there.

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We absolutely don't need to sign another starting OL. You know we are drafting high here. And you can't say they can't start -- look at Whitehair as rookie. And we have Leno, Long, Whitehair, Massie starting. Plus... Kush played well for us before he was injured. Grasu is the athletic Center under draft contract, they may still want to assess him. Morgan is a talented swing T/G under draft contract. And we signed Tackle Sowell. I'd be looking for a high OL pick, not signing a starting FA.

dennehy said:

The back up safeties are very bad, and a cheap vet can be had to be the third safety.

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I don't agree. Jackson and Amos are young, and they're not injury prone. We just need one backup who can play decent between Hall, Bush and Houston-Carson (all of whom know Fangio's system well now), and I think we have that. At most we might draft a late round S, but we don't need another FA.

dennehy said:

Same with corner. Mincey and Grant at outside corner if Fuller or (inevitably) Prince miss time? Nope.

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Screw Mincey and Grant, those a strawmen -- We're going to have Fuller, Prince, Callahan, LaBlanc (who the Bears like), all of these guys played decent per PFF, plus you know were going to draft a CB, maybe a high draft. LaBlanc played fair outside. And Hall could play outside, we'll have to see what they do with him this year. I don't see signing another FA CB.

dennehy said:

I'm not saying we will sign all of those positions in FA, but all those are holes for sure. You have 'and a draft' at pretty much every position. Some of those draft picks aren't going to be read for the NFL.

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Some drafts picks won't be ready to start, but some will, and some will be ready as rotational players, and some ready as backups. We've been pretty lucky starting our rookies lately like Whitehair, Jackson, Amos.

What we need

That can compete to start or at least more than a nobody backup

OLB
RT
OG
ILB

Depth

S
WR
RB, I think Cunningham comes back
ILB, only have 2 under contract really
NT

Bring back McManis, sign a Long Snapper and uou are close to a mini camp roster.

Names that should not come up in conversation, Grasu, Bush, Houston-Carson

Yeah, Leblanc. You have two outside corners and one slot, and no one who's even decent backing them up. Callahan and Prince have both missed time more or less every year.

Hall? Who's never played a snap at S in the NFL? Why wouldn't you want someone there who is good?

If you want to absolutely be forced to use your first or second pick on a guard, alright. I prefer someone else to compete for that spot to free up Pace.

At least two other posters have echoed my comments almost exactly in this thread. Edit: make that three with Windy.

You don't plan FA based on who you may or may not draft. We have absolutely no idea who will be available at our,pick(s). That would be beyond foolish.

You do what you realistically can in FA first, and worry about the draft afterwards. And if you get lucky and a great prospect falls to you that isn't a position of need...well, good GMs go into the draft with a plan for that possibility. But you can't not sign a FA in the hopes you may be able to draft a player or a position...

One of the most under rated losses was our long snapper. Pace is such a dumbass when it comes to special teams.

Seriously, whining about the longsnapper of all things? Jesus...

Re-sign: Eddie Goldman (NT), Lamarr Houston (OLB)

These two are musts for me. Get Goldman done now to save money down the line. Houston should come cheap though I thought they massively overpaid for Acho.

Consider re-signing: Cameron Meredith (WR), Adrian Amos (SS), Bryce Callahan (CB)

I'd like the Bears to eventually re-sign all of these players but perhaps not right now.

FA possible additions: Jack Mewhort (OL) or Luke Joeckel (OL), Navarro Bowman (ILB), Junior Galette (OLB), Eric Reid (S), Pierre Desir (CB) + LS

The Bears seemingly want to attack the trenches in the draft and OL doesn't seem to be of paramount importance to them in FA. I am being presumptuous here as otherwise I'd imagine they would have made every effort to sign Fulton. Furthermore on the DL they could have made an effort to go after Daquan Jones who would have been perfect opposite Hicks in the 3-4 Fangio runs. Clearly the Bears had the money for either player and on top of what they have they could have Sims to free up another $6m or so if they wanted either or both of these two players. It's what I would have done but I am not a GM for good reason.

Right now the Bears only have 2 ILBs. For Fangio's defence they need 4 on the roster. Bowman to me makes sense though again if they plan to draft Roquon Smith or Tremaine Edmunds in the 1st round there is likely no need as they could just re-sign Timu.

Galette is a beast and played a whole season after missing the previous two with significant injuries. I am surprised Washington has re-signed him already. If fit he's very difficult to deal with though he might well be too much of a head case for Pace.

e.g. OLB: Leonard Floyd, [2] Lorenzo Carter, Aaron Lynch, Junior Galette, Lamarr Houston, Sam Acho

I think the Bears may be able to get Eric Reid on a 1 year deal. If that proves to be the case it provides far better depth at the position and places pressure on Adrian Amos to prove he deserves a new contract (I like Amos FWIW). It's a long season and the Bears need better depth in general. The safety position is an example of this issue.

Pierre Desir would be an underrated signing in my opinion and cheaper than the recently cut Cooper. A solid No.3 CB though I suspect the Bears will look to draft a CB.

Trade: Dion Sims

http://www.chicagobears.com/team/transactions.html

The Official Site has all the transactions listed and Freeman is not included among those that were released.

DezBears said:

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I haven't heard this yet or even looked at the details of the contracts given out besides the guaranteed money. Why are we backloading contracts? Isn't that a recipe for a disaster in a few years?

HawkBear said:

I haven't heard this yet or even looked at the details of the contracts given out besides the guaranteed money. Why are we backloading contracts? Isn't that a recipe for a disaster in a few years?

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No. Many of those contracts will have outs if the player is underperforming. And even if they live up to the contract, they will likely get an extension to reduce the cap hit in those years.

Right now the best approach is to be patient and let the remaining depth free agents to sweat it out a bit. Get ready for the draft and see what remains after that.

WindyCity said:

What we need

That can compete to start or at least more than a nobody backup

OLB
RT
OG
ILB

Depth

S
WR
RB, I think Cunningham comes back
ILB, only have 2 under contract really
NT

Bring back McManis, sign a Long Snapper and uou are close to a mini camp roster.

Names that should not come up in conversation, Grasu, Bush, Houston-Carson

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I think you have to add DE to the "compete to start" list unless you believe in Bullard/RRH as full-time players.

I wouldn't mind seeing a depth signing on the OL or two. Cut Grasu just cause he's worthless, along with Long's injuries. We could use plenty of depth there even if the plan or the result is to take Nelson in the draft.