The Chicago Bears made swift moves in free agency to help keep the depth of the defense alive. All of these signings made a lot of sense, and are considered good signings. Jeremiah Attaochu could be an upgrade from Barkevious Mingo, who had a bigger role than expected last season. Angelo Blackson will essentially replace both Brent Urban and Roy Robertson-Harris.
Of course, they had to bring in someone to bandage the loss of Kyle Fuller, and Desmond Trufant is a name that will do. Still, the Bears spending more on their defensive line in 2021 than in 2020 to upgrade depth is not what this team needed. Yes, they added a quarterback and kept Allen Robinson. Still, Ryan Pace is once again forgetting the offensive line.
Pace saw a disaster strike in the middle of 2020 when his offensive line fell apart and he did not have any depth. Luckily for Pace, he saw a group gel together towards the end of the season.
It is fair to say that on paper they will go into the draft with Charles Leno, Cody Whitehair, Sam Mustipher, James Daniels, and Germain Ifedi as starters. It is fair that they can draft a right tackle as well as depth in the draft. Those five are not awful, and the Bears did win games with a similar combo.
Still, it is also fair to wonder how Pace could see what an injury did to his line last season and not find a way to boost the depth this offseason. In Alex Bars, Arlington Hambright, and Lachavious Simmons they have homegrown talent, but minimal resources invested. It is fine to trust them as depth, but why not bring in more competition?
Pace seems to understand the value of the defensive line. He added Mario Edwards and Brent Urban. He paid Edwards and paid Blackson this offseason to ensure depth was there. However, he looks at this line with an average tackle, a player moving positions again, a UDFA getting his first chances as a center, a guard coming off an injury, and a bust who had four good games down the stretch, and does not see a need to add free agents or veterans with experience.
Re-signing Ifedi is fine. They should have signed another depth tackle for a bit less, and then drafted another tackle on top of that. Their line has been depleted the past few years. If Ifedi gets hurt right now, they are screwed, and even at full strength, he is the weakness. Blackson, Attaochu, and Mario Edwards are great, but the resources should be going to overloading an offensive line room.