The Chicago Bears will potentially lose a ton of great talent in the secondary during free agency, with so many available to sign elsewhere.
Chicago has safeties Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker, as well as cornerbacks C.J. Gardner-Johnson and Nahshon Wright, up for grabs in free agency, but the Bears might not need to re-sign any of them to get the help they need in the secondary. Pro Football Focus writer Mason Cameron named the top five safeties in the 2026 free agency and where their best landing spots are, with Jabrill Peppers' best landing spot being with the Bears.
"Although Peppers didn’t catch on in Pittsburgh, playing just 100 snaps, he isn’t far removed from a strong track record in New England from 2022 to 2024. Over that span, he proved to be a versatile chess piece deep, in the slot and in the box, producing a 75.0-plus PFF overall grade in each of those seasons. The Bears can get Peppers on a short-term, prove-it deal in hopes of recapturing that production to address one of their many vacant spots in the secondary, all without breaking the bank."
Would Jabrill Peppers make sense for the Bears?
Peppers has had an interesting career after being a first-round pick of the Cleveland Browns in 2017, as it seemed to be a promising start for him. He has bounced around to four teams since leaving the Browns in 2018 and has racked up 527 tackles, 35 pass deflections, 30 tackles for loss, 15 quarterback hits, eight fumble recoveries, seven interceptions, six forced fumbles, 5.5 sacks, and one touchdown in 113 games.
One good thing about Peppers compared to Brisker and Byard is that he would be a cheap option and a Day 1 starter for the Bears. According to Spotrac, Peppers has an expected market value of $1.4 million per year.
That is music to the Bears' ears, since they are $-5 million in cap space entering the offseason and have a lot of work to do with contract restructuring and releasing/trading high-dollar players. Bears general manager Ryan Poles has made it clear that the team would love to have Byard back, so it could be a situation where Peppers replaces Brisker in the lineup for 2026.
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This offseason can go in so many ways, but if the Bears can pay less than $2 million in 2026 for a starting-caliber safety, that is absolutely the route they must take.