As the Chicago Bears hit the bye week, it is a good time to look back on the roster and how it was put together. We already graded the Bears draft class and the second-year players. How have the Chicago Bears' new free agents looked? The first year was not a real free agent class because Ryan Poles had no assets, but this year, they were active on the market. How did these players look in their first 12 games with the team?
Tremaine Edmunds, LB
Tremaine Edmunds has a $14.7M cap hit this year, and right now, the Chicago Bears not getting their money's worth. Some of it has to do with injuries and the pieces around him, but he also is simply not playing well. The issues start with him missing a lot of training camp and preseason with injuries. It looked like he was a few steps slow to start the season.
As the season went on, it began to look like he was trying to make too many plays, perhaps overcompensating for the injuries around him. Also, the issues on the defensive line were hurting him at the second level.
Of course, once the secondary gets healthy and Montez Sweat gets added, we see Edmunds miss two games due to an injury. The last two games have been no excuses for Edmunds. He has not been a game changer in either game, but he has also not hurt the team.
Still, for what the Bears paid they have needed so much more than what he is giving them. The hope is that the five games after the bye week will be no excuses for quality play.