Are The Bears Done With Free Agency?
Should the Bears make any more moves in Free Agency?
The Chicago Bears have $27 million in salary cap space, if they do choose not to sign anyone else around $25 million will be carried over into next season. Looking at this year’s roster already you can see why a lot of experts are predicting the Bears to be this year’s 2017 Los Angeles Rams. The roster turnover these last 4 months has been amazing. They have become a team that is finally ready to compete for a playoff spot albeit in a very tough NFC North division.
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Most agree this offseason and draft has been an A+ for Chicago, but the Bears still left their biggest hole basically untouched, pass rushing. With that being said I think Johnathan Hankins would be an amazing addition to the defensive line. I know the Bears love Jonathan Bullard and he will surely be a cheaper option but a player like Hankins still available this late into Free Agency is unheard of. Bullard has improved every year while being on the Bears and you can see why Vic Fangio might not want to sign another lineman. Hankins has 3 extra years of experience on Bullard, but he is still just 26-years old, and would tremendously help the Bears pass rush right away. Hankins best season was in 2014 when he recorded 7 sacks. Last year with Indianapolis he recorded 44 tackles and 2 sacks.
Hankins is the one free agent that makes the most sense for the Bears to sign. But depending on how much faith they have in their rookies and guys coming into their second year, I wouldn’t be too shocked to see the Bears sign one or two more guys to solidify some depth for a couple of positions. While this is unlikely to happen I will never rule out Navarro Bowman reuniting with Vic Fangio. Yes, I know he is old (going to be 30), and the only way I could see him ever wearing a Bears jersey is if he goes into the season unsigned and the Bears LB core gets hit with the injury bug like it has the past few seasons. Another position the Bears have had some bad injury luck with is offensive line. So signing or picking up a player or two after the first wave of cuts happen could be in the cards for Ryan Pace and the Bears.