Are there still Chicago Bears targets to help improve their roster out there? GM Ryan Pace would say there is always an opportunity to get better. This is true. Time often shows it's not the teams with the most star power that win championships but the ones with the deepest rosters. Injuries are a fact of life in football and you need guys who can step up at any time.
A good way to do this is scouting potential cuts by other teams across the league to see if certain names might become available. Names that might be helpful to your own cause. With the NFL draft having passed, a clearer picture has surfaced on which names around the league stand a good chance of being cut loose.
Bill Barwell of ESPN provided a list of names, one of every team. Among them are a few fascinating players that may be worth pursuing if they do indeed end up on the market in the near future.
Artie Burns (CB, Pittsburgh Steelers)
"This time last year, the Steelers were hoping Burns would emerge as their No. 1 cornerback in 2018. He instead played so poorly that Pittsburgh benched him for virtually all of the second half of its disappointing campaign."
Pittsburgh didn't waste much time this offseason making his future questionable. They signed veteran Steven Nelson in free agency and then added the underrated Justin Layne out of Michigan State in the 3rd round of the draft. Burns is now expendable.
The crazy thing is the guy is still just 24-years old. He's ridiculously athletic too. All of his problems have been mental in nature. His discipline isn't there. Taking a flier and giving him to Chuck Pagano, a renowned defensive backs specialist would be a fun possibility.
Karl Joseph (S, Oakland Raiders)
"Every Raiders player who was acquired before Jon Gruden came to town is on perpetually thin ice. That's doubly true for Joseph, who hasn't lived up to expectations since the Raiders drafted him in the first round in 2016."
It's been common knowledge that Joseph was a question mark for this year. After the Raiders signed Lamarcus Joyner in free agency and used one of their 1st round picks on Jonathan Abram, it's now obvious. He is all but gone from Oakland this year.
Like Burns, the safety has athletic chops and isn't afraid to play physical. It feels like he was never used properly by the Raiders. Constantly changing schemes can do that. Giving him to Pagano would offer the Bears another rehabilitation project.
Arik Armstead (DE, San Francisco 49ers)
"The 49ers have moved Armstead around the lineup and eventually settled on using him as a rush-stopping defensive end last season, which is a position teams generally fill relatively cheaply."
Armstead has had some rotten luck in his young career. He was drafted in 2015, the year after Vic Fangio left, and has been under three different defensive coordinators since then. It's hard for a young man to have success under those circumstances. Especially when forced to switch schemes.
The Bears have a good situation at defensive end, but there's never a downside to quality depth. Jay Rodgers is one of the best position coaches in the business. If anybody could help Armstead discover his full potential, it would be him.
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