Chicago Bears must sign this 2022 free agent after his recent performance

If Chicago Bears fans missed it, Michael Gallup had a very impressive Thanksgiving performance. Despite the Cowboys falling short to the Raiders, Gallup finished with five receptions for over 100 yards.

Michael Gallup has stepped up into a larger role with both Ceedee Lamb and Amari Cooper currently out for the Dallas Cowboys. Despite being injured a good majority of the year, he’s managed to have a respectable season with 17 catches for 228 yards.

He’s been an underrated piece of the Cowboys’ offense since he was drafted in 2018 and has the ability to make catches like this one from last night:

This year is Gallup’s contract year. According to Spotrac, the Cowboys will start 2022 with negative cap space. It’s safe to say they won’t be able to find money to extend Michael Gallup.

Enter, the Chicago Bears.

Michael Gallup would be a great fit for the Chicago Bears

Currently, the Bears have Darnell Mooney and rookie Dazz Newsome under contract at receiver in 2022. It’s very unlikely they’ll retain Allen Robinson, who will be one of the top free agents at receiver next year.

For the Bears, who are entering the offseason with lots of cap space and even more free agents, addressing their offense will be important. They need to find weapons for quarterback Justin Fields that will compliment Mooney’s abilities. Michael Gallup would be a perfect fit. He has decent size and great route running, allowing a speedster like Mooney to stretch defenses out.

Spotrac lists Michael Gallup’s calculated market value at $11.6 million for his annual average salary. That means his estimated contract would be a 4-year, $46.7 million contract. Ultimately, if the Bears wanted to jump at the chance to sign the 26-year-old receiver, they’ll likely need to offer him $13-15 million a year. They could do a deal similar to the Denver Broncos extension of Courtland Sutton. Sutton signed a 4-year, $60.8 million deal with $34.9 million guaranteed.

It won’t be easy to make a similar offer, however. Chicago has several key free agents entering 2022, including linebacker Roquan Smith. They’ll need to get creative with Gallup’s 2022 cap hit, but losing out on such an undervalued player to help upgrade their offense would be terrible (and very Bears).

Gallup’s production may fluctuate a bit as the Cowboys get healthy, but his NFL career so far makes him deserving of a big second contract, one that the Bears should be offering the first day of free agency.