Chicago Bears: 4 positional battles to watch closely during the offseason

The Chicago Bears had some holes the team addressed throughout free agency and the 2020 NFL Draft. However, now the team has four key battles to watch.

The Chicago Bears have made moves to improve in areas that some would either consider weaknesses or holes that were created due to cap casualties. Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy’s new coaching staff has made moves to offset these areas. Many might even say they improved in certain areas.

The biggest upgrade that should jump out at everyone is how the team has improved in rushing the passer — at least on paper. Cutting ties with Leonard Floyd could not have been easy for Ryan Pace. Pace drafted Floyd in 2016 by trading up from the 11th overall pick to the 9th overall pick. Floyd was not a bad player, he just did not live up to the sack specialist Pace was hoping for.

Pace signed Robert Quinn to replace him. Quinn had 11.5 sacks in 2019 compared to Floyd’s 18.5 career sacks. Although seven years ago, Quinn had 19 sacks in one season. Yeah, Quinn is an obvious upgrade. Not to mention, the team drafted Trevis Gipson who even as a rookie who never played a snap in the NFL has to be better than Aaron Lynch.

The outside linebacker position clearly is not going to be involved with any type of camp battle, at least with the starters anyway. Khalil Mack and Quinn will man the outside spots while there will be a shuffle for the third EDGE rusher on the depth chart. There are, however, four positions that fans will need to keep a close eye on.