The Chicago Bears may have dodged a bullet.
The Kansas City Chiefs just franchise tagged guard Trey Smith. The average fan would assume this is terrible news for the Bears since they were poised to sign the two-time Super Bowl champion to a massive payday. After a closer look, the Bears might be better off without him.
For starters, the Bears have the fourth most cap space in the league heading into the offseason with $79 million, per Over The Cap. Realistically, the Bears could afford a talent like Smith. But why would they?
This might be a shocking statement, especially when you consider the Bears gave up the most sacks in the league last season with 68, per StatMuse. With a young quarterback in Caleb Williams, the Bears need to protect him at all costs. Now that the Bears just hired Ben Johnson, this will become even more important.
Since the Bears are in this situation, they might be open to overpaying when they shouldn't. Imagine if the Chiefs didn't franchise tag Smith and he ends up signing a max contract with us? Is that what Bears fans really want? Could that money have gone elsewhere to address a different team need? The answer, whether Bears fans want to admit it or not, is yes.
The Chicago Bears could benefit from Trey Smith's franchise tag
Simply put, the price tag to pay for a player of Smith's caliber would be too high for the Bears. Take the game of investing, for example. When it comes to investing, a Cardinal rule is to buy low, then sell high. If the Smith deal actually worked out for the Bears, they'd be buying high. If Smith regresses or gets injured, now you are in a situation where you have to cut your losses and sell low. This means the Bears could end up taking a huge cap hit.
And to be fair, not every free agent signing works out the way fans hoped. Remember the Nate Davis signing? How about the Mike Glennon signing or the Ryan Bates signing?
Also, Smith and the Chiefs' offensive line played a below average game against the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl. Superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes was sacked six times the Chiefs struggled to run the ball all game.
Yes, it would have been nice to have Smith on the Bears. In reality, there are better--and cheaper--options on the free agent market this year.