Bears Mailbag - The Case For Free Agents To Choose Chicago

On Monday of this week, Matt Nagy completed his first full week as head coach of the Chicago Bears. He accomplished a lot, as he put together some major pieces for what is turning out to be a killer coaching staff: Harry Hiestand, Vic Fangio (re-signed), Mark Helfrich, and Chris Tabor among others? Awesome.

I went back and graded Nagy's first week as head coach, and suffice it to say, he did very well. You can read that column here. Now, as Nagy enters his second week with his coaching staff largely set, we reach into our Bears Mailbag. Plenty of fun stuff to discuss this week. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions.

One thing we have to understand is that money makes the world go round (for the most part). If the Bears, or any other team for that matter, pay well enough, players will sign. Remember, these world-class athletes have a limited amount of time to make life-changing money off of their God-given abilities, so they have incentive to take advantage of it. That said, if and when Ryan Pace finds himself pitted against other teams for certain free agents' services, he and the Bears are in much much much much much better shape to compete against those teams' offers. Because in addition to ample cap space, there are two other big reasons: Matt Nagy and Mitch Trubisky. At this time last year, the Bears were pretty much a free agency mess. John Fox was entering his third season with the Bears sporting a 9-23 record, and it was clear that he needed a big season or else he was getting the axe. Jay Cutler was a known, upcoming cap casualty (plus it was just time to move on), and Brian Hoyer and Matt Barkley were also free agents, leaving the cupboard bare at quarterback. That kind of uncertainty spells massive trouble -- and there's no doubt many free agents were scared off by that situation (in addition to Pace refusing to overpay). But the Bears are a completely different situation now than they were then. Nagy was just hired as Chicago's new head coach, and he and Pace are on similar, four year timelines. Not to mention, Nagy has put together a dynamite coaching staff that players would be lucky (and excited) to play for. And Trubisky offers a lot of hope at quarterback, something the Bears have lacked for some time. I can promise you that the prospect of playing with a high-potential QB like Trubisky will entice many. So given all that's transpired in the last season, and in the last week, the Bears have evolved from one of the league's laughingstocks to one of the most interesting situations in the NFL. That, plus stability, plus an emerging vision gives Pace a strong arsenal of "pitch" material as he enters free agent negotiations in a couple of months. Money talks, but these new optics will certainly sweeten the deal.

In all honesty, to me at least, "worried" is a strong word. But you're absolutely correct in saying that Ryan Pace hasn't had the best track record in free agency. He's certainly hit on some gems: Akiem Hicks and Danny Trevathan come to mind right away. You can also consider Prince Amukamara, Kendall Wright, and Benny Cunningham to be successful signings. But the reality is Pace has to improve his track record here. The list of misses is too long with disasters like Mike Glennon, Marcus Cooper, Markus Wheaton, Quintin Demps, Antrel Rolle, and others jockeying for "headliner" positioning. Pace's strategy so far in FA has been pretty clear: Spread resources around to bring in quantity (depth) over big-name splashes, and protect the Bears by providing an out after a year or two to minimize risk. I suppose that works well when targeting mediocre free agents, but doesn't help reel in a star, as we witnessed just last year when the Bears struck out on A.J. Bouye, Stephon Gilmore, and Logan Ryan. But there's reason to believe that that strategy may change this year. Erik Lambert of SM wrote an interesting piece that outlined what may have been the driving force behind Pace's FA strategy to date: The fact that his roster just wasn't ready to compete week in and week out. They had way too many holes to fill and not enough depth to justify handing out massive contracts to "stars". He wanted to spread the wealth while buying time to complete his young foundation through the draft. Erik went on to say that now that it appears that the young foundation is in place, coupled with a new coaching staff, it might be time for Pace to finally supplement the roster with some star-studded, proven talent to complement the young, inexperienced, yet talented core the Bears have put together. We'll see what happens this offseason. I think they're much closer to playoff contention than people seem to think, so I would expect the Bears to be much more aggressive pursuing quality help in free agency.

Frankly, it's hard to speculate on a full blown record. There are going to be so many moving parts and this team is going to look quite a bit different in Week 1 than it does right now. You can bet there will be significant turnover to the roster, as there always is when a new coaching staff comes in. So while I'm reluctant to give an overall record for now, I think a realistic expectation should certainly be winning a game against the NFC North. John Fox went 0-6 against divisional foes last year, and fared extremely poorly against the North during his three-year tenure. The road to contention begins with your own division, and the Bears should always be held to the standard of at least winning their divisional home games and ending up with at least a split at 3-3. That should always be a realistic and fair expectation. The rest will fall into place.

Mitch Trubisky would certainly bring back a jackpot of a return if he were to be traded ... ;) Just kidding. I promise. <3 Trubisky. Here's the reality of the situation: Anyone that the Bears could trade that would bring back significant assets is probably worth keeping at this stage. The Bears have plenty of talent, but they still have needs both at the top of the depth chart and at the bottom. I would not expect, nor would I condone, trading anybody that significant. Remember, draft picks are great, but at the end of the day they are just a calculated bet. If the Bears have an established player that fits their plan, they should keep them and not give it another minute's thought. That being said, there are certainly some players who *could* find themselves on the trading block and could bring back a small return (think mid-to-late round pick). Some players to keep in mind, for various reasons, include: Willie Young, Dion Sims, Hroniss Grasu, and Nick Kwiatkoski. Erik Lambert of SM wrote a piece on this with some interesting insight. You can read it here to get some more details.

Great question. Mike Glennon is a lock to be cut. And Mark Sanchez is an unrestricted free agent. I'm sure the Bears would certainly like to bring Sanchez back in some capacity as he helped Mitch Trubisky in his development, but it could even be as an assistant coach rather than as a backup QB that takes up a roster spot. That being said, Chicago could opt to find backup(s) either in free agency, the draft, or a mix of both. Here's a list of veteran QBs that could be available for the Bears to bring in (keep in mind that many of them may want to compete for starting jobs elsewhere so this is not a perfect list): Chase Daniel, Josh McCown, Derek Anderson, Chad Henne, Ryan Fitzpatrick, and Jimmy Garoppolo (just kidding). In the draft, the Bears could potentially be looking at young QBs with traits and upside in the later rounds to not only back up Trubisky but to groom as well under a veteran backup's tutelage. Some names to keep an eye on in the late rounds: Kurt Benkert of Virginia, Riley Ferguson of Memphis, and Kyle Lauletta of Richmond.

I'm not sure what you mean by problems. The biggest decision by far the Bears have regarding their offensive line is what to do with LG Josh Sitton, who is set to earn $8M in 2018. I'd be stunned if that actually happened, though: He is very likely to be a cap casualty, and the Bears will need to replace him. They drafted Jordan Morgan last year and believe he has upside, and they also like Eric Kush, who sat all of 2017 with a torn hamstring. Chicago could also look at free agency and the draft if they prefer to bring in external help. Quenton Nelson is a generational talent at OG this coming draft and he played under Harry Hiestand at Notre Dame. There could certainly be interest there. Nelson would be a plug-and-play starter and would help anchor the interior of the Bears' offensive line for the next decade.

Other than that, the Bears do have to improve their depth and acquire a swing tackle. But the rest of their offensive line is set. Charles Leno and Bobby Massie did a more than adequate job at LT and RT respectively. Leno, likely the most underrated LT in the NFL, is under contract long term, and the Bears could do worse, either talent-wise or budget-wise, than Massie. Moving on from him is not necessary. I assume I don't have to explain the value that Cody Whitehair and Kyle Long bring. They are entrenched as building blocks.