Could the Chicago Bears still make a splash move this offseason?
In a recent article on ESPN by Field Yates, he lays out one final move he believes each team should make before the start of the 2023 NFL season. Yates talks about how we are in the quietest time of the offseason. He makes a good point about how front offices are able to take a bit of a pause between OTAs/minicamp and the start of training camp to look over the roster again. We know that Ryan Poles is willing to add to the roster late in the offseason. He added Riley Reiff and Michael Schofield during this time of year last year. Will the Chicago Bears sign another player this year?
Field Yates talked about how these moves that he is suggesting could be signing a free agent, making a trade or even signing a current player to an extension. With players like Cole Kmet, Darnell Mooney, Chase Claypool, Trevis Gipson and Jaylon Johnson all in the final year of their contracts, you'd think that his suggestion would be to extend one or two of those guys. Nope, that's not what he thinks the Chicago Bears should do.
The Chicago Bears need to add help at defensive end
Here is what Field Yates had to say about the Chicago Bears:
"The Bears have not shied from stating the desire to beef up their edge room -- they are light on established pass-rushers. The free agent market features more players who would be designated pass-rushers in the Bears' scheme (think Yannick Ngakoue) than every-down candidates, which leads me to wonder whether the Bears would be better served to find a trade for an edge player. Pretty much any name at the position that has come up as a potential trade/cut candidate has been linked to the Bears."
- Field Yates, ESPN
5 breakout candidates. dark. Next. 5 breakout candidates
As you can see, Yates believes that the Bears might be better off trading for an edge rusher instead of signing a free agent. To be honest, I'm not on board with sending too much draft capital for an edge rusher. If the Chicago Bears cannot land a defensive end in free agency, then it's time for the team to move on with what they have now and hope to improve the position in the draft or free agency in 2024. Who do you want to see them add?