Chicago Bears Free Agency: Identifying the best defensive free agents at each position

Free Agency starts on Wednesday, March 15, 2023. However, at 12:00 (Noon) EST today, the legal tampering window opens. I fully expect that the Chicago Bears are involved in one announced signing - could it be two? I think it needs to be noted early that the Bears should not blow through a ton of salary cap space right away. Ryan Poles must be strategic and should also look to roll over a solid amount of salary cap space into 2024. They need to hit on the early signings and find depth later while building through the 2023 NFL Draft and beyond.

Yesterday, I released a free agent listing of offensive players. Some of those positions are not actually "the best" free agents available. That is because the Bears are not about to drop a ton of money into the wide receiver or tight end positions. Mecole Hardman for example is probably off the table if he is looking for anything over $8 million per year. Offensive line and running back need to be the focus for the Bears on offense. What's exciting is how many ways Ryan Poles can attack this offseason.

The Chicago Bears need to build through the trenches this offseason

Now, we are going to look at the defensive side of the ball. Just like with the offensive side of things, we will go position by position and I'll list who I am most excited about. I'll try to keep the Bears in mind here though as not all of the top free agents will make sense for this team. As I did with the offense, I'll list depth options for positions that the Bears don't need to look for a starter. Lets start with the trenches and build from the inside out.