After hiring Ben Johnson as their head coach, the Chicago Bears are in a position to have an aggressive offseason.
The Bears currently have the sixth most cap space in the NFL this offseason with $63 million, per Over The Cap. The team with the most cap space in the league is the New England Patriots and their $120 million. The Bears have a lot of extra money lying around. Make no mistake, the Bears are ready to go on a spending spree.
General manager Ryan Poles deserves praise for keeping the Bears in a strong financial position. This has allowed the Bears to sign prized free agents like D'Andre Swift, Ryan Bates, T.J. Edwards, Tremaine Edmunds, and Kevin Byard.
Almost all of these free agents have become full-time starters and are making valuable contributions to the team on a weekly basis.
The Bears will have money to spend this offseason.
What's more important is that the Bears are always in a solid financial place, so they can go out, take risks, and spend on free agents. They have consistently possessed a healthy salary cap situation since Poles arrival.
Poles has had to make a few tough business decisions over the years to keep the Bears' cap space high. Some of these include releasing center Cody Whitehair and Pro Bowl safety Eddie Jackson in recent years, which allowed the team to sign some of the previously mentioned names.
This offseason, the Bears will have several top free agents to cash in on. A few team needs the Bears must address are interior offensive linemen and pass rushers. Some of the best free agents of this cycle at these positions are Kansas City Chiefs guard Trey Smith, Indianapolis Colts guard Will Fries, New York Jets pass rusher Haason Reddick and Philadelphia Eagles pass rusher Josh Sweat, per Pro Football Focus.