For several weeks now, Maxx Crosby's name has been linked to almost every team in the NFL at one point or another, but only a select handful of them were actually considered viable to sign him. The Chicago Bears came up short and must now turn their sights to other options to fill vacant roster spots.
Now that Crosby is off the table and the new league year has begun, Ryan Poles and the Bears have been active participants in a flurry of signings. The Bears have signed multiple players today, several of whom are prominent defensive players.
Missing out on Maxx Crosby forces Bears to rethink defensive strategy
The Bears were clearly interested in Crosby. Virtually all teams were. But the Bears were named multiple times to be not only in the mix to sign him, but also front-runners.
The fact of the matter is that Crosby would have cost the Bears an arm and a leg, and it would have eliminated many, if not most, of the weapons that Poles has moving into the new league year. Because this deal didn't happen, the Bears have flexibility.
Distributing resources across multiple positions allows the Bears to avoid a large financial commitment while simultaneously creating space under the cap. A star acquisition is always great, and solving the Bears' historic edge rusher problem in one fell swoop sounds excellent to the general fan, but it's simply not practical. Building a more balanced defense is the goal, not a centerpiece.
The early waves of signings suggest the Bears held multiple contingency plans in place if the pursuit of Crosby went astray. Rather than committing significant resources to a single pass rusher, the Bears have opted to address several defensive needs at once. In the long run, that type of roster construction can prove to be more sustainable.
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Instead of relying on a single difference maker, the Bears are attempting to build a defense capable of generating pressure and forcing mistakes through collective production. Missing out on Maxx Crosby may not have been the outcome Bears fans hoped for, but it may have forced the kind of roster balance Chicago has been chasing for years.