The Chicago Bears have not been nearly as aggressive in NFL free agency as they've been in the past. That isn't a surprise. They neither have the funds nor the need to be so. They came into the market with just $25 million in cap space and that was after creating most of it with contract restructures. Also they're a 12-4 team with most of their star-studded core already in place.
So GM Ryan Pace didn't have to feel pressure to get crazy. However, he made his stance fairly clear before the market opened. If a team is not getting better, they're getting worse. Going to the playoffs is great, but winning the Super Bowl is better. His job is to get them to that point and right now the Bears aren't quite there.
That meant he'd have to see if he could massage the free agent landscape in hopes of landing some upgrades for his roster. All without breaking the bank. Such things are never easy, but it would appear he may have pulled it off.
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NFL experts claim Chicago Bears scored two top players, and on good deals
Gregg Rosenthal and Chris Wesseling of NFL.com forged a full list of the top 101 free agents for 2019. It included obvious names at the top like Le'Veon Bell, Trey Flowers, Earl Thomas, and Landon Collins. There were other quality names in the mix too though, and it appears the Bears scored a couple of them. Kick returner and offensive utility knife Cordarrelle Patterson was ranked the #65 best free agent. An immediate help to a team that had the worst kickoff return average in the NFL last season."One of the NFL's best overall special teams players, Patterson has added value on end-arounds and limited routes as a wide receiver. "The Bears weren't done though. A couple of days later they reached an agreement with the #44 player on the list, safety Ha Ha Clinton-Dix. A former Pro Bowler in 2016 with 17 career interceptions, he signed in Chicago in hopes of reuniting with friend and former Alabama teammate Eddie Jackson.
"If Clinton-Dix hit free agency a year or two ago, he might have ranked in the top 15 of this list. But his occasional coverage lapses caused the Packers to give up on him in Year 5. Even an average starting safety, however, has plenty of value."Simply having that information alone is encouraging. Yet that's not the best part. It's that the Bears got both of those players for a combined $8.5 million. For context, the Green Bay Packers signed Adrian Amos for $9.25 million a year. In other words, the Bears got a top kick returner and a safety who's at least as good as Amos for $750,000 less. That must be what they call winning free agency.
