The Truth Behind the Chicago Bears 43 Free Agents
Heads could be rolling at Halas Hall next season (Photo: Chicago Tribune)
A lot has been made of the 43 upcoming free agents that are on the Chicago Bears roster, setting up a Super Bowl or Bust Up scenario for a team that could be on the cusp of a major overhaul. The fact that 43 of the 90 men on the roster are in the final year of their deal could be daunting, but the reality is much less scary.
Here’s a list of all 43 free-agents-to-be, thanks to the Sun Times’ Adam Jahns:
TE Kyle Adams
RB Armando Allen
LB James Anderson
WR Joe Anderson
WR Devin Aromashodu
C Taylor Boggs
DB Zackary Bowman
OT Cory Brandon
OL Eben Britton
DT Nate Collins
LB Blake Costanzo
QB Jay Cutler
TE Brody Eldridge
DT Sedrick Ellis
DE Jamaal Anderson
FB Tony Fiammetta
LB Jerry Franklin
C Roberto Garza
K Robbie Gould
CB Kelvin Hayden
KR Devin Hester
DT Corvey Irvin
WR Jerrell Jackson
CB Tim Jennings
LS Patrick Mannelly
DE Turk McBride
DE Josh Williams
QB Josh McCown
DB Sherrick McManis
DT Henry Melton
DE Kyle Moore
S Tom Nelson
TE Fendi Onobun
DT Cheta Ozougwu
OT Jonathan Scott
OG Matt Slauson
S Craig Steltz
CB Charles Tillman
RB Harvey Unga
OT J’Marcus Webb
LB D.J. Williams
OL Edwin Williams
DE Corey Wootton
S Major Wright
S Tom Zbikowski
These guys represent just over $65.3 million in cap space this season but many of them are unlikely to even make the final 53-man roster.
Only 15 of the 43 are what I would consider key guys, guys who are starters or playing key roles. The other 28 guys certainly have value and might surprise us, but if we were using baseball stats, their respective WARs (Wins Above Replacement) wouldn’t be all that high.
Of those 15, you’ve got the two rent-a-linebackers DJ Williams and James Anderson. Now that DJ Williams is injured, he might just Wally Pipp’ed right out of a job. There are rookies on the roster who will be expected to supplant the veterans some time this season, maybe sooner than later. Phil Emery and the Bears need to see what they have in those guys to know how to approach free agency. If we assume the rookies will pan out, the list goes down to 13.
Of the 13 guys remaining, you have three specialists in Robbie Gould, Patrick Mannelly and return specialist Devin Hester. We certainly can’t undermine the contributions these guys have made to the Bears organization, they’re still just specialists, on the field for only a handful of plays each game. Are they valuable? Of course. Are they replaceable? I think so. That whittles our list down to 10 key guys.
Let’s take a closer look at those 10 and decide how many should really stick around.