Ranking 5 best free agent centers Chicago Bears should sign
1. Could the Chicago Bears sign Ben Jones?
Projected Contract Per PFF:3-years, $20M, $6.67 per year
Ben Jones is the perfect blend of cost, experience, and fit, and makes the most sense for the Chicago Bears. He is going to be 32 which makes him about the same age as Matt Paradis, and just a year older than Ryan Jensen, Still, for that year difference comes nearly $7M in projected value.
Beyond Jones being half the cost as Jensen, he is arguably the better fit. Jones comes from the Tennessee Titans who ran zone 57% of the time last season. Only the Rams and Brian Allen were more zone-heavy last season.
Jones was around the Houston Texans for some of the better Arian Foster seasons and has been a stud with the Titans allowing Derrick Henry to run wild.
While he is older than Allen, he also comes at a similar if not cheaper cost. Beyond that, while Allen has 1,600 snaps at center, Jones has over 9,000. He has snapped for quarterbacks such as Marcus Mariota and Ryan Tannehill, who are similar to Fileds in that they can run but are more bootleg mobile.
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The reality is that while Jensen is better than Jones, he is not $7M better than Jones. That is paying the tax of a Super Bowl player who had the benefit for snapping for Tom Brady. Ben Jones is not as flashy, but for the cost, and for the fit is a much better bet.
The combination makes him a realistic option for the Chicago Bears.