Bears – Potential Free Agent Additions (Defense)
Safety
S Donte Whitner (5’10 | 288 | 4.54)
I’ve already wrote at length about the Bears potential interest in Whitner so I won’t rehash all of it here. The main points were that the Bears still don’t have a proven safety to pair with Adrian Amos in the starting lineup and that Whitner made two consecutive Pro Bowls playing safety under Bears DC Vic Fangio in San Francisco (2012-2013).
The Browns released Whitner about a month ago, much later than most cap casualties which partially explains why he’s still available. By this point in the off-season most teams have their starters at least penciled in. The Bears do at most positions, but not safety.
They brought back veteran Chris Prosinski, who is limited athletically, and still have 2nd year player Harold Jones-Quartey who is still very raw. The Bears did draft three players who could conceivably compete for the starting safety role in Deon Bush, Deiondre Hall, and DeAndre Houston-Carson. Do any of those guys sound like a sure thing to you?
The Browns let Whitner go half-way through a 4-year, $28M deal despite the fact that he made the Pro Bowl for the Browns in the first year of his deal (2014). At 30 years old, Whitner is probably not the Pro Bowl caliber player he was a few years ago, but he’s still an effective run-stopper and enforcer over the middle.
Whitner finished last season with 81 tackles, 1.5 sacks, and a forced fumble in 14 games in 2015, which earned him an above-average grade from Pro Football Focus. His 79.5 overall grade is just below Husain Abdullah (80.2) who PFF has ranked as the 35th best free agent and above Walter Thurmond (79.3) who was ranked 36th. To put those numbers in perspective Antrel Rolle was ranked 47 spots lower than Whitner and Prosinski 229 spots lower (!).
Based on the stats and most metrics, it’s pretty clear that a slightly passed his prime Donte Whitner is still a far superior player to the other safety options available on the Bears roster. Reuniting Whitner with Fangio could get him back closer to his former Pro Bowl level than he showed with the Browns and give the Bears two hard hitting starters at safety in Amos and Whitner with rookie Deon Bush a potential third intimidator over the middle.
On paper it seems like a no-brainer to me for the Bears to bring in an upgrade at safety that the coaching staff is already familiar with. The Bears have the 5th most cap space in the league, so money shouldn’t be an issue, but Whitner is rumored to be asking for a similar deal to what the Browns paid him two years ago.
Even if Fangio gets Whitner back to playing near his prime form, he’s not worth anywhere near the $8M per season he got from the Browns. The Bears have excess cap room, but that’s because GM Ryan Pace has been smart and conservative with his money and I can’t see him shelling out that much for a 30-year-old safety after wasting $3M on Antrel Rolle in 2015.
S Walter Thurmond (5’11 | 190 | 4.53)
I had Thurmond near the top of my list of Bears free agent targets last year as a cornerback, but he switched to safety with the Eagles in 2015 and was even better. Bears DC Vic Fangio has shown a preference for safeties with cornerback experience (Amos, HJQ, DHC, Hall) and Thurmond definitely fits that mold.
Fangio likes being able to interchange his safeties between coverage and run-stopping responsibilities and Thurmond would give him that ability, though isn’t as strong of a run stopper as Amos. He is very solid in coverage though as a former corner and would be an upgrade across from Amos over any current safeties on the Bears roster.
The problem with Thurmond is that he’s already turned down a couple of $4M per season offers (PHI, NYG) and may be leaning towards retirement. He’s only 28 and coming off his two best NFL seasons, so it would be a bit of a surprise if Thurmond retired but all signs are pointing that direction.
Thurmond has always had elite talent, but has struggled with injuries his whole career and also had an adderall issue a few years ago. If Thurmond were to play this year, he’s one of the best safeties still available, graded just below Donte Whitner according to PFF.
In his first season as a safety Thurmond had 71 tackles,3 interceptions, 7 passes defended, 2 sacks, 2 forced fumbles, and an 83-yard fumble return TD. He’s still near the prime of his career, but if it may cost the Bears $5M plus to talk Thurmond out of retirement it probably wouldn’t be worth it unless it was only a one-two year deal.
A short-term deal could be perfect, giving the Bears new rookie safeties time to adjust to the speed of the NFL game and learn Fangio’s scheme before taking over in 2018. There is a slim chance Thurmond plays in 2016, but the Bears should at least give him a call and see what it would take to bring him to to Chicago for a season or two.
In summary, here are are my top three free agent targets on defense:
1.) CB Chris Culliver
2.) S Donte Whitner
3.) DE Randy Starks