The Chicago Bears should not focus solely on praying for the free-agent market and huge cap space next season. The receiver market looks excellent next year because this season hasn’t started.
Everybody knows that Deboo Samuel, DK Metcalf, and Terry McLaurin are in the last year of their rookie contacts. How did that work out with Devante Adams, Chris Goodwin, Mike Williams, and Michael Gallup this offseason?
If a player is worth the squeeze, why would their own teams pass up on the value of tagging and trading them or resigning them altogether?
Ryan Poles and the Chicago Bears shouldn’t think too far ahead
We (us fans) need to stop looking so far into the future at other teams’ talented players before the season begins and focus on our own.
I know the Chicago Bears wide receiver room looks bare. Who knew that Darnell Mooney would become the leading receiver for the Bears during his second season?
Cole Kmet caught 60 passes for 600 yards in a lousy offense. Many fear the loss of Allen Robinson is going to hurt Mooney, yet at one point, Mooney was Jalen Ramsey’s dad.
Was that an overreaction? Yes. However, it is the exact opposite this season — that Mooney can’t be that number one guy for the Bears. Let’s not focus on who could do what next season for the Bears before evaluating what this team can do in this new scheme.
Speaking of the Chicago Bears’ future. Let’s look at the salary cap. After trading Khalil Mack, the 2023 salary cap space for the Chicago Bears jumped to over $125 million. That was the main argument on Twitter for what is to become of the Chicago Bears.
Notice that after free agency and the draft, that number is down to $93 million. It will get even lower. Expecting the Bears to have $85+ million entering next year’s free agency is fools gold. Do you not like Roquan Smith?
What if some of the one-year signings work out? Those players are not likely to take another one-year prove-it deal. Poles will have some room to work with in 2023 but let’s not get crazy and skip the 2022 NFL season. There is a lot to happen.
Ryan Poles hasn’t had as much to work with as the Jacksonville Jaguars. However, he is not planning for the 2022 NFL season to be a throwaway season.
Poles is building for 2022 to roll into the future. Many believe the best-case scenario for Poles is to have a top-five draft pick. That’s the worst-case scenario. They failed if the Bears have a top-five draft selection next year due to their record.
Justin Fields either got injured, or he isn’t good. The top-three drafted players on the team failed. Matt Eberflus would have failed as a head coach.
The Chicago Bears don’t need to win the Super Bowl next year to have this year play out as a success. They need to have Fields play well, stay healthy, show that these draft picks are the real deal, win games they should win, and remain competitive. The future is now.