The Bears should claim Terrell Suggs off waivers
The Chicago Bears should claim Terrell Suggs off waivers and reunite him with Chuck Pagano.
The Arizona Cardinals decided to cut ties with outside linebacker Terrell Suggs on Friday. The Chicago Bears should make a waiver claim on Terrell Suggs and hope to add to a depleted front seven. Although Suggs is 37 years old, he is coming of a seven sack season with the Baltimore Ravens and has 5.5 sacks with the Cardinals this year.
Reuniting Suggs with Chuck Pagano makes perfect sense. Suggs had his best season in 2011 under Pagano. He racked up 14 sacks and a league-leading seven forced fumbles. He also grabbed two interceptions that year. Even though that was eight years ago, Suggs could benefit from being a rotational player off the edge. In fact, his 5.5 sacks would be the third-highest on the Bears.
After finishing 2018 with the third most sacks (50) in the NFL, the Bears are currently 22nd with only 30 on the year. Khalil Mack leads the way with 7.5 and Nick Williams is second with six. Leonard Floyd who was supposed to break out this year only has three and two came in the first game versus the Packers.
Suggs was signed by the Cardinals this offseason to a two-year, $10 million dollar deal. Suggs is only owed $2 million dollars in 2020. Adding him now could help the Bears make a push (although they need close to a miracle) for the playoffs this season and could make him a cheap addition to the Bears 2020 squad.
Due to waiver claim rules, Suggs would have the ability to declare himself a free agent at the end of the season instead of playing out his 2020 season, but I am confident once he is in the Bears locker room and feels the atmosphere this team has built, he would not want to leave. Not to mention I would assume he has a great relationship still with Pagano.
What makes this a no-brainer is that relationship with Pagano. Although he only played one year in Pagano’s defensive system (2011), Suggs should have no problem stepping in and making an immediate impact. Suggs will be available to claim for 24 hours.
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If the Bears were to claim and be awarded Suggs contract, he would likely not play much if at all versus the Packers. However, the addition alone coupled with hopefully Akiem Hicks returning could be the spark needed for the Bears to beat the Packers on Sunday and keep pushing towards the 2019 playoffs.