The Chicago Bears signed Alec Ogletree. Ogletree made his name with the Rams but has bounced around from the Giants to the Jets. Ogletree jumped into the NFL from Georgia and was a 16 game starter through his rookie season.
However, he is now entering his age 30 season, and last season he appeared in a career-low two games. Overall, when Ogletree was at the top of his game, he was respected by his peers. Some analysts may have overrated him because his tackle numbers were always high. Some of that had to do with teams attacking him and with him making tackles down the field.
However, you cannot deny his nose for the football, and he was a sure tackler beyond that. That is what cause Ogletree to sign a significant extension in New York that turned out to be an overpay and a wrong decision.
So, now Ogletree is a former stat-stuffer who struggled to get on the field. He is also starting to hit the peak of his age range for ability. What does that provide the Chicago Bears?
Chicago Bears linebacker depth chart
Ogletree had no suitors and signed late into training camp. He is not coming in here to make waves and push starters. He is here because the Bears need depth at linebacker. We know Roquan Smith is set to break out this year, and this is not an indictment on Danny Trevathan.
Reports are that after a poor 2020, Trevathan is in a better spot than last season.
With that in mind, this is a move to push some of the names behind Trevathan.
Christian Jones is the top, but even he can rush, that makes him a pseudo edge rusher and Robert Quinn back up.
From there, Austin Calitro, Josh Woods, and Joel Iyiegbuniwe round out the depth. Adding Ogletree and two and maybe three at most of the four bottom-end players will make it from this group.
In Ogletree, they have the veteran with the most starting experience but the most extended injury history and the closest to the edge of being out of the league.
In Calitro, they have the special teams star who bounces around the NFL because his ST skills do not supplement being negative on defense.
In Josh Woods and Iggy, they have the depth from last year. Iggy has slowly fallen into the disappointment category, and after all these moves this offseason, it seems the former draft pick is falling out of favor.
Late into the season last year, it became clear that Woods was trusted ahead of him on defense, and that should be it for Iggy. So, the question with Woods is, do you take the younger and cheaper linebacker over the two veterans?
Overall, Smith, Trevathan, Jones, Ogletree, and Calitro may be the top five. That leaves out Woods, and Iggy, two players who were three and four in the rotation last year.