Chicago Bears getting no love for offseason moves thus far

The Chicago Bears made moves at the start of free agency to try to improve but much of what they’ve done has been met with harsh criticism.

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace is trying his best to improve the roster and return to the team’s 2018 ways. He’s brought in new players and ushered out players who he felt couldn’t continue helping the team.

One person’s advances are another’s regression, however. Pace’s moves so far have taken a beating. The critics say he signed over the hill players and players nearing over the hill status. They argue that the Bears could have picked younger, bigger names with the same amount of money.

Apparently, for the Bears to have success in the offseason they need to sign big names. If they aren’t making a big splash by signing big names then they aren’t doing anything well. Brent Sobleski of Bleacher Report, for example, named the Chicago Bears the biggest losers of the offseason so far, questioning just about every move Pace made.

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They said that instead of signing Jimmy Graham the Bears should have gone after Eric Ebron or Austin Hooper. One of the biggest problems they had with their tight ends last season was health. Trey Burton didn’t recover from his sports hernia surgery and it contributed to other injuries he suffered. He wasn’t the same player he was in 2018.

Adam Shaheen continued his injury-plagued career. The Bears had high hopes for him but he just cannot stay healthy. Also, before the Bears shut him down, head coach Matt Nagy questioned his work ethic.

People are concerned with Graham’s health but let’s take a look at that notion. Ebron missed a total of eight games in the last four seasons, while Hooper missed five games. In that same period, Graham missed no games, despite suffering an ugly knee injury in 2015. In fact, he’s only missed seven games in his entire career. Additionally, he had more receiving yards than Ebron in 2019. With Hooper, we’ll see how things differ when he doesn’t have Matt Ryan throwing to him.

What you have to keep in mind is that Graham is probably only in Chicago for one season. They likely draft a tight end and groom him to be the probable starter in 2021. The prospect could be a good pickup and be controllable for four seasons.

Graham and a healthy Burton could do a good job in 2020 while the prospect gets eased in. It gives the Bears better depth than they had in 2019 and a new starter in 2021 when they could part ways with Graham and Burton and save over $14 million in cap space. They wouldn’t be locked in and could have a stronger tight ends unit with the Graham signing.

Was trading for Foles the right move?

The argument against acquiring Nick Foles is that if the Bears waited more they could have gotten Cam Newton. The Carolina Panthers offered Newton to the Bears but they balked. They eventually had to release him.

Now Newton is available to any team and they don’t have to pay him that big contract.

Newton has had injury problems the last two seasons. He had a shoulder injury in 2018 and a Lisfranc injury on his foot last season. WIth the COVID-19 pandemic, though, teams aren’t able to have their medical teams evaluate players.

Is having Newton really a big upgrade, however? He has a career completion rate of just under 60 percent. Foles is at 62 percent and Mitchell Trubisky is at 63 percent. Furthermore, Newton has a touchdown to interception rate of 1.68:1, while Foles is at 2.03:1 and Trubisky at 1.66:1.

Also, we need to see Newton’s leadership skills. He tends to sulk and get knocked out of sorts when things don’t work out. Foles has already shown that he is cool under pressure. He came off the bench to lead the Philadelphia Eagles to a Super Bowl victory and he earned himself a Super Bowl MVP honor.

Newton coming to Chicago wasn’t going to move the needle for the Bears. He is basically a bigger version of Trubisky, but his injuries now restrict how much he runs.

Reports are that Foles and the Bears worked out a restructuring of his contract. We’ll see how much smaller the cap hit is for 2021 and beyond. At any rate, signing Foles gives the Bears a better shot than signing Newton.

Say what about Quinn?

This one I couldn’t believe. The Bears signed Robert Quinn to play on the opposite side of Khalil Mack. Quinn is a good edge rusher and had a big 2019 season. He recorded 11.5 sacks and 22 quarterback hits. Having him is a definite upgrade over Leonard Floyd. Quinn’s 2019 sack total is just a few sacks fewer than Floyd’s career total of 18.5 sacks.

Having an edge rusher like Quinn greatly helps Mack. Instead of facing constant double or even triple teams, Mack will have more space to operate and wreak havoc like he usually does. Quinn requires attention. Unlike Floyd, if you leave Quinn in a constant one-on-one, he’ll be making many great plays. Add Akiem Hicks, Eddie Goldman, Bilal Nichols, Danny Trevathan and Roquan Smith, the Bears should have one of, if not the best front seven in the NFL.

Remember 2018

Yes, the Chicago Bears are trying to get back to the winning team they had in 2018. However, another memory of that year was the offseason when the Bears made some moves that seemed questionable. Remember them giving all that money to Allen Robinson, a wide receiver who missed the entire 2017 season (except for part of one game) because of a serious knee injury?

The Bears received criticism for that move. How has it worked out, though? Today, nearly everyone is awaiting the Bears to extend his contract and keep him in Chicago for the foreseeable future.

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They also signed Aaron Lynch. People were concerned about his injury risk as well. He played in fewer snaps than he had in San Francisco and he’s played well in a backup role. He is currently a free agent but there is a chance he could return.

With their group of free-agent signings in 2018, the Chicago Bears went 12-4 and won the NFC North. Let’s see what happens with this crop of free agents.

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