10 best realistic free agent targets for Chicago Bears

1. Ben Jones is best fit at center for Chicago Bears

One of the positions that is most likely to be found in free agency is center. The Chicago Bears have Sam Mustipher, but they need to find a better option. This is not a draft where there are plenty of center options and it is hard to go into the draft assuming the team can find one, unlike other positions such as wide receiver.

This puts the need at center more than others. Ben Jones is the best fit for the Chicago Bears. While fans want Ryan Jensen, he is likely to get twice as much on the open market as Jones. Jensen is better, but certainly not twice as good.

Jones has been a locked-down starter since 2012 with the Houston Texans. His days were some of the big breakouts with Arian Foster. Then, when he went to Tennesse, the Titans’ run game exploded with Derrick Henry. If you remember, Henry had a year or two before Jones was signed where he was not as dominant.

The Chicago Bears signed Chris Morgan to be their offensive line coach, and he came from the Kyle Shanahan tree. Ben Jones has played in a similar scheme since 2012 when Gary Kubiak was the head coach. Below you can see the top free agents and the amount of zone blocking they ran last season.

Ryan Jensen 23%

Brian Allen 65%

Ben Jones 57%

Bradley Bozeman 27.5%

Matt Paradis 49.8%

Jones is one of the best fits. Jones is 32 years old, but Jensen is going be to 31 this season and teams are piling up to pay him. Jones is a better fit, and the projected $6M salary is way easier to swallow.

The Chicago Bears should sign a center, and the best value at center is Ben Jones. The best scheme fit is Ben Jones. The veteran with experience who could help a young quarterback is Ben Jones. This fit makes the most sense.