Were Chicago Bears ever interested in Orlando Brown Jr.?

The Chicago Bears missed out on Orlando Brown Jr. as the signed to play for the Cincinnati Bengals. The term missing out may be a bit loose here, to be honest. Yes, fans wanted them to sign him and some thought it was a good fit. However, nothing suggested that the team was even interested in Brown.

Chicago Bears never had interest in signing Orlando Brown Jr.

We wrote right at the start of free agency that he was not a fit. The first reason he was not a fit was that the team needed right tackle much more than they needed a left tackle. Brown used to play right tackle, and there was a moment in free agency when it looked like those were the only offers he was getting.

However, even at right tackle, the scheme fit is not perfect. The Chicago Bears like their lineman to be lighter on their feet. One of the big reasons Braxton Jones became trusted by the coaches was his ability to pull and locate defenders at the second level.

There is too much wiggling and maneuvering for the team to make a real play at him. To be fair, the expectation was also that a right tackle would be signed by now. Part of the reason the team should not have been in on Brown was that Kaleb McGary, Jawaan Taylor, and Mike McGlinchey were all around.

The Chicago Bears apparently were in on McGlinchey until the very end but lost a bidding war to the Denver Broncos. Still, this report only cements the idea that the Chicago Bears never offered Brown anything.

McGlinchey signed for $17.5M per year. He got five years, and $87.5M with $52.5M of it guaranteed. Orlando Brown got $16M per year and got four years for $64M. His guaranteed money was $43.

So, if the Chicago Bears did just barely lose out on McGlinchey, they probably offered McGlinchey more money than Orlando Brown Jr. accepted. You would think that if the Chicago Bears offered that same deal to Brown, he would have taken it over the Bengals deal.

This is pretty cut and dry. McGlinchey is more athletic and fits the Chicago Bears scheme. He also plays right tackle and does not want to play left tackle. The combination had the Bears interested, and those are two things that Orlando Brown is not bringing to the table.

The team missed out on McGlinchey, and you can say they should have had more interest in Kaleb McGary, but they never were players for Orland Brown, because he never fit their vision.