Chicago Bears Free Agency Report Card: Statistically Speaking

The recent group of players the Chicago Bears have brought in through free agency have been heavily criticized by the media.  Looking at the numbers for these players, they do not look like ideal players in any system including the Bears.  There doesn’t appear to be much to get excited about.  If we look deeper at the numbers, will they tell us a different story?

This writer admits, when he first looked at the list of players the Bears had signed in free agency, I was very disappointed.  I had been writing about the Bears bringing in guys like Stephon Gilmore and A.J. Bouye.  Those were the guys a lot of fans wanted the Bears to sign. Perhaps they could have had Eric Berry had he not re-signed with Kansas City.  Chicago had the money but they chose to spend it in pieces instead of a few big “parts”.

Football fans love numbers and these guys have them.  This being an age of statistics, the numbers on these guys are far from impressive.  We will get into those numbers later but when you view them, don’t be shocked at what appears to be facts Bears management might have chosen to ignore.

Chicago Bears

But there are times when you have to look beyond the numbers and look at potential future performance.  That is what the Bears must have done with a majority of these picks.  They looked at what they can bring to the Bears and not necessarily what they have done in the past.  They took a look at how they would fit in the system.

So how do you predict what a player is going to do beyond the numbers?  You have to take into account past performance, the cast around him on his new team and the situation he is walking into.  All of these new players were brought in for a purpose.  We can guess what general manager Ryan Pace had in mind when he brought these guys in.  We can see how they fit and what they might be able to do.

The following is an analysis of the Bears free agent signings.  Some have their own slide while others are combined for brevity.  There is a look at the statistics, their previous situation (on their previous team) and what they are walking into in Chicago.

*Note: This article was written prior to the signing of Mark Sanchez.  There will be more about his signing and what it means to the quarterback position a little later on.