During the bye week, we reviewed the first real free agent class by Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Poles. Poles was the GM last year but spent most of the season cleaning up the cap from the previous General Manager. This year, he got to spend.
Ryan Poles had a couple of good hits but a couple of misses as well. What were the best and worst from his free agent class, and how can that change over the final five games?
2. The Chicago Bears already extended Andrew Billings
The Chicago Bears clearly like what they saw from Andrew Billings. The team extended him right in the middle of the season, showing how much they thought he was making a direct impact. It is pretty obvious to see on tape, especially in the first four games when there were pieces shuffling and the team was getting blown out of games.
You saw that Billings was still fighting on his snaps and setting a tone. He had a huge tackle for loss to start the team's first win against the Washington Commanders. Beyond that, the Bears’ defense is trending to be a top-ten run defense after being quite easily the worst run defense last year. It was not just Billings; he was brought in to defend the run, and he has done just that, leading this turnaround.
Billings was brought in an affordable deal, but it was only one year. Now, he is extended through the next two seasons. While making roughly $4M per year and not being tied to him long-term if things change, this is a solid deal for both sides. For Ryan Poles and the Bears, they get Billings as a culture setter, as well as a run defender.
It is good to know that Ryan Poles can mine some value in the middle-tier of free agency, especially as we get into some of his misses.
2. Yannick Ngakoue is having a career low with the Chicago Bears
Yannick Ngakoue has not been good enough for the Chicago Bears this season. There were questions about signing him before he even came in, and there was a reason why Ngakoue had to wait until training camp started to find a job. He had already been trending down in his play, but his sack numbers stayed about the same thanks to some cleanup work, and it had some fans thinking he would still be the same player.
Now, Ngakoue is worse than ever as a pass rusher, and he remains poor in the run game. His pass-rush win rate has sunk to an all-time low. What is crazy is that it has actually gone down since Montez Sweat arrived, and attention shifted away from him. Before the bye, the Bears started to play DeMarcus Walker over him.
Ngakoue was the second-highest free agent signing this offseason, and he made over $10M this year. The only good news for the Chicago Bears at this point is that they are not committed to him in any way after this year.
1. The Chicago Bears are seeing TJ Edwards progress
It was always going to be hard to knock the signing of T.J. Edwards because it was such a valuable signing. A three-year deal making under $20M over the full term would have to be pretty bad to be a big regret. Early on, it was looking bad as Aaron Jones ripped a huge touchdown reception against him.
However, as the season continued, he fit into the defense more and more. It started with his ability as a pass rusher. He looks better than ever in this regard, and the Bears are using him more than he ever had been. From there, we started to see his run defense improve. He could always tackle, but it looked like he started to get his angles down.
Edwards has not been perfect in coverage, but his five most recent weeks are leaps and bounds better than the first five weeks he had with the Chicago Bears. Edwards is going to be signed for the next two years, and it is hard to see him not living up to all of the terms of that contract before it is over.
He is not having quite the impact year that he did with the Philadelphia Eagles, but as he gets more comfortable and the defensive line helps him more, you are starting to see the best of T.J. Edwards.
1. Will Tremaine Edmunds progress with the Chicago Bears?
For as much as T.J. Edwards has progressed, Tremaine Edmunds has remained stagnant. This is not good, especially when you compare the two contracts. Edwards has a $7M cap hit next year, and then it is $7.5. Meanwhile, Edmunds will be on the books for $22M in 2024 and then $17.5M in the two years after that.
This is serious money. The Bears can restructure his deal, but that will make things tougher in the long term. They may want to eat that cap hit next year. Either way, he will be on the team, and the Bears need to see him play better.
He looks slow to process, and even his plays on the ball come from tips, thanks to other players. Injuries have impacted his development in the defense starting back in the summer, but still, he is underplaying his salary.
It is great that Ryan Poles found two solid mid-level signings with Andrew Billings and T.J. Edwards. However, his two biggest swings were on Yannick Ngakoue and Tremaine Edmunds, and they are two of the worst players on the defense as it stands right now.
Does this change the way Ryan Poles views free agency, or is this his Chase Claypool moment before he rebounds with D.J. Moore and Montez Swea?