Before the offseason even started, there were plenty of names available at the wide receiver position, however, not many were considered great. Going back to my rankings, I wanted the Chicago Bears to land Christian Kirk more than anything. Then the Jaguars stepped in and tried to ruin the free agent wide receiver market. Luckily, that didn’t happen and only they truly overpaid at the position. Kirk at $18 million per year is ridiculous, however, there were still other guys to be had.
Whenever I look at any type of ranking system, I prefer to rank them in tiers. Kirk was only one of the receivers in my top tier. JuJu Smith-Schuster was my number two option and also in the same tier. I would have loved to see Smith-Schuster and Byron Pringle signed to the Bears roster, but that did not happen either. Smith-Schuster’s contract is very team-friendly, but he landed with the Chiefs.
The Chicago Bears landed an underrated WR in Byron Pringle
In fact, Smith-Schuster essentially replaced Byron Pringle at the time. I say at the time because then the Chiefs traded away Tyreek Hill to the Dolphins and now Smith-Schuster might be the best WR left on the Chiefs roster. The Chicago Bears roster has plenty of holes on it and wide receiver is towards the top of the list, if not at the very top. The offensive line and corner are the two other areas of concern.
Looking at the other free agent wide receivers, Allen Robinson and DJ Chark were the only other two I had in that top tier of free agents and I was not expecting nor wanting Robinson to return. In tier two though, I had three other receivers. Russell Gage, Cedric Wilson and the current Chicago Bears wide receiver, Byron Pringle.