The Chicago Bears have so many needs on both sides of the ball after the mess that Ryan Pace left the team. Ryan Poles acted quickly by clearing up cap space but were not patient to spend either once free agency opened.
The Bears knew that they had Akiem Hicks and Bilal Nichols as free agents. They also knew that they had to cut Eddie Goldman and his bloated salary. That left the team with a pretty huge hole on the defensive line. With Ryan Poles being a former trench player, and Matt Eberflus being a defensive-minded guy, the duo teamed up to make Larry Ogunjobi the first big signing of the new era.
The Larry Ogunjobi signing is an upgrade in the fact the team had limited assets there anyways. However, even from what they had, what was supposed to be a good line on paper, the new line may be off to a better start.
Last season Larry Ogunjob had 41 pressures, per PFF. Below, you can see the Chicago Bears three lineman that is likely to be gone.
Bilal Nichols 31
Akiem Hicks 15
Eddie Goldman 8
Akiem Hicks obviously had his injury questions but also had a down year by his standards. The three Bears lineman had 54 pressures to the 41 of Ogunjobi. If you up the projected salaries of Hicks and Nichols, as well as the cap savings of Eddie Goldman, the Bears could have paid $24 million for these three, but instead gave a 3-year, $40M deal to Larry Ogunjobi.
Ogunjobi also had 20 run stops last year. Nichols led the Bears with 16, Akiem Hicks had 11 and Eddie Goldman had just eight in this area as well.
Lastly, Ogunjobi had an average depth of tackle at 1.9 yards downfield. All three of the Chicago Bears’ defensive linemen were above three yards downfield. You could argue that 2021 was an average year for the skill set of Nichols while it was a down year for Hicks and Goldman. At their best, they have all had better numbers.
Still, Goldman has changed since sitting out and at the age of Hicks you know he is not getting back his All-Pro ways. The debate was Ogunjobi or Nichols, and last season the easy answer was Ogunjobi.
Salary and other factors will come into play but at first glance, they found an upgrade, at least looking at last season, and projecting ahead using their fit.