Eddie Goldman signed his 4 year/ $42 million contract before the regular season started, but only played 26 snaps against Green Bay, will his investment be worth it in the long run?
After playing in only 43% of the snaps against the Packers, it was concerning to see such a limited amount of time for the Chicago Bears newly paid nose tackle. In 3-4 scheme the nose tackle needs to be strong, quick, and have a sturdy base. Their in the pass is to hold the offensive lineman enough so that the linebackers can quickly fill the gaps on blitzes, and in the run their job is to dominate the middle.
Goldman is fantastic at those things, but with the number of sub-packages that Vic Fangio likes to run, is the role that Goldman plays a bit too limited. Perhaps Fangio opted for pass rush to try and slow down Aaron Rodgers during his comeback, rather than focus on the Packers lackluster rushing attack.
It comes to concern on how much of an impact will Goldman make on the Bears defense over these next few years. With the league now almost fully reliant on the quarterbacks success, its hard to pay for defensive players that don’t immediately effect the quarterback.
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It’s not that Goldman isn’t one of the best nose tackles in the league, but with Adrian Amos, Leonard Floyd, and Bryce Callahan due for contracts before Goldman’s is up in the 2023 season. If we are talking just about value that is where the concern lies for Goldman.
Can Goldman be the guy in the middle that stops the run consistently? Absolutely. He can blow up the middle and take down any and all guys coming up the middle, but in an adjustment league, teams may try and take him out of the game similar to the Packers did by using the passing attack.
That is why you need to have an elite secondary and pass rush, to halt the opposing passing attack. For the time being Goldman’s contract is fine if he continues to dominate, but as the time moves along he might have to give a bit of pass rush or create some turnovers, to warrant his salary with the amount of snaps that he gets.