NFC North pre-draft roster grades for the 2022 NFL offseason

NFC North pre-draft roster grades

4. Chicago Bears – F

My Lord, what are the Chicago Bears doing?  New General Manager Ryan Poles is tasked with rebuilding a roster left by Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy.  It’s a tough task, but there was a clear path for him to take in year one, and he failed miserably in the free agency period.

The one thing the Bears needed to do was to put more protection around Justin Fields and give him a few more weapons.

Yes, the NFL Draft is still a thing, but given the moves the Bears made, I’m not so sure Ryan Poles is acting with much urgency.

He signed Lucas Patrick, who is OK and was playing in front of Aaron Rodgers, and Dakota Dozier, a subpar offensive lineman who shouldn’t be starting.

They added two low-impact wide receivers in Byron Pringle and Equanimeous St. Brown.  Both played with Patrick Mahomes and Aaron Rodgers and failed to produce much, so their chances with Justin Fields aren’t great, and they shouldn’t be viewed as upgrades.

The Bears added more on defense, recently signing slot cornerback Tavon Young.  Their other notable addition was run-stuffer Justin Jones, after their attempt to sign Larry Ogunjobi fell through.

It was a largely confusing free agency period.  They managed to bring in players within the two most important positions for them but were inferior players to what they had.

Hopefully, Chicago can hit on some players in the draft, or else the development of Justin Fields might be greatly impacted.

The NFC North shouldn’t be much of a difference from years past.  look for the Packers to run away with the division, the Vikings to hang around .500, and the Bears and Lions to each win a handful of games.