The Bears 2025 Free Agency Thread

[Lake Shore Drive]

I do want to be fair and not necessarily state as fact that Smith personally played a shit game without finding out more info. Nevertheless, it does give me pause, especially knowing he's going to command major coin.

Speaking of analyzing Smith's performance:

How Super Bowl may have altered Bears thinking in free agency

The hot commodity for the Bears before the Eagles and Chiefs met in a disappointing Super Blowout Sunday was Chiefs guard Trey Smith. It's quite likely some of the luster wore off Smith, although not a lot.

www.yardbarker.com

The article doesn't exactly sing praises for Smith, but then again it pretty much claims he held his own against Carter. Still, it points out that Smith's 46.6 PFF grade for blocking in the two postseason games borders on the wretched. Maybe the Eagles guard, Mekhi Becton, would be the better value as suggested. Food for thought.

And no-so-coincidentally, 28 year old DE/Edge Josh Sweat, who IMHO could easily have been named the MVP in last night's game, is also a free agent. The Sweat bros....things that make you go hmmm.

 

[wood20ks]

Heard some rumblings of Micah Parsons wanting out of Dallas.......

Now if that was to hold true,now thats worth two firsts for a Poles trade.

But not sure how true it is tho.

 

[BearsWillWin]

Micah Parsons is gonna be more than two firsts

At a minimum it's probably 3 and then some later round picks as well

 

[wood20ks]

Micah Parsons is gonna be more than two firsts

At a minimum it's probably 3 and then some later round picks as well

Two would be a deal breaker for me,would probably even give up one of our 2nds for him.....
But I dont know if Id give Dallas 3,thats kinda steep for me.....to go until 2028 without a first.....??

Dont think we need to go 3 years without a first.....

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Two would be a deal breaker for me,would probably even give up one of our 2nds for him.....
But I dont know if Id give Dallas 3,thats kinda steep for me.....to go until 2028 without a first.....??

Dont think we need to go 3 years without a first.....

Sick of the Bears sending multiple firsts on trades for players who didn't justify the bounty we surrendered. See Jay Cutler and Khalil Mack. No thanks to any more such trades.

 

[wood20ks]

Sick of the Bears sending multiple firsts on trades for players who didn't justify the bounty we surrendered. See Jay Cutler and Khalil Mack. No thanks to any more such trades.

Jay Cutler bothered me the most......he never became the qb I hoped for,just fools gold imo.

Atleast Khalils production out weighed Jays.

But Id still give 2 for Micah.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Jay Cutler bothered me the most......he never became the qb I hoped for,just fools gold imo.

Atleast Khalils production out weighed Jays.

But Id still give 2 for Micah.

Agree with you about Khalil having proved his value more than Jay, but even then it wasn't worth what we gave up.

Micah's a tough one because he's still very much in his prime and will be entering just his age 26 season, meaning there's a lot of football left in the lad. And no one can dispute his talent. But unless there's an agreement in advance on a contract extension, and boy will that one be a doozy, then no way would I even consider surrendering a single 1st rounder for a rental, let alone two of them.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Here are some of the key offseason dates:

Important 2025 offseason dates for Bears fans to know

With the 2024 NFL season officially wrapped, here are some important 2025 offseason dates for Bears fans to know.

bearswire.usatoday.com

I know a lot of people don't care much about the combines, but I always enjoy watching them. And of course the free agency-trading timeframes are especially important to us this year.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Smith's 46.6 PFF grade for blocking in the two postseason games borders on the wretched. Maybe the Eagles guard, Mekhi Becton, would be the better value as suggested. Food for thought.

Straight from PFF:

Super Bowl 59: Chiefs’ three-peat hopes crumbled behind offensive line struggles

In a dominant 40-22 victory, the Eagles overwhelmed Kansas City’s struggling offensive line, pressuring Patrick Mahomes on 40.5% of his dropbacks and disrupting the Chiefs' offense all night.

www.pff.com

Left tackle Joe Thuney (60.1), left guard Mike Caliendo (30.1), right guard Trey Smith (49.2) and right tackle Jawaan Taylor (57.3) all earned pass-blocking grades below 61.0, leaving Mahomes under constant duress.

I didn't find any grades related to the run protection, but I have to assume with KC's paltrey 7 carries for 24 yards (I didn't factor in Mahomes scrambles), those grades couldn't have been any better and might have even been worse. Suffice to say I'm checking out a safe spot to land on the ground as I contemplate hopping off the Trey Smith bandwagon.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Here's a nice little preview of the Bears offseason, without going into extensive detail regarding their needs and plans:

Chicago Bears 2025 NFL offseason preview: Ben Johnson ready to turn Caleb Williams, franchise around

After a rough first season with Caleb Williams, the Bears have the money to turn things around quickly with their new head coach.

sports.yahoo.com

The ultimate understatement is to say our top needs are the OL & DL. The article states we currently have $65m in cap space. That number should expand with specific cuts and possible salary restructures. Of course the final number will reduced when factoring in contracts for the players we intend to re-sign.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Here is a Top 100 FA list from CBS Sports Pete Prisco:

Prisco's Top 100 NFL free agents for 2025: Sam Darnold, Tee Higgins, Josh Sweat headline list for free agency

Pete Prisco ranks the top 100 players who could be available on the free agent market

www.cbssports.com

Some names of interest:
#3 Josh Sweat - His SB performance, which I thought was MVP-worthy, might have helped raise his ranking here.
#4 Trey Smith - His post season production was fugly, but his regular season PFF grades are solid.
#7 Drew Dalman - He's top on my wish list, assuming he's 100% for '25. He's a young talented center, a position the Bears have been missing for years.
#19 Mekhi Becton - The poor man's Trey Smith, not quite as talented, but will likely be had for half the cost.
#25 Tevin Jenkins - One of only two current Bears on this list (Coleman Shelton at #99 is the other).
#51 Justin Fields - Hey look, here's our veteran back up!!!
#90 Russell Wilson - Hey look, here's our veteran back up!!!

 

[averagejoe]

Suffice to say I'm checking out a safe spot to land on the ground as I contemplate hopping off the Trey Smith bandwagon.

LSD, its 1 game. Smith is a probowler. The Chiefs as a whole on offense played horrible. And they arent a terrible offense.

Even if he were bad, a bad KC lineman is still better than a good Bears lineman.

Props to the Eagles for the way they played. But with everyone thinking KC was gonna pull off the 3peat, safe to say that maybe there was some team-wide overconfidence.

 

[wood20ks]

Why not us? He would make our defense elite.

Not sure if there is any merit to this story:

Chicago Bears a top candidate to trade for $125 million star

The Chicago Bears were named as one of the more likely teams that could trade for Myles Garrett in the 2025 offseason.

www.chicitysports.com

But,it could be us I guess.....Id rather see him here than the one of our division teams......
Sweat had only 5.5 sacks last season,not worth that 2nd we gave for him,but that all could change adding Garret,along with the secondary being better.....

But I still doubt this happens myself....its just a story for clicks imo.

 

[Beengay fudgepackers]

Not sure if there is any merit to this story:

Chicago Bears a top candidate to trade for $125 million star

The Chicago Bears were named as one of the more likely teams that could trade for Myles Garrett in the 2025 offseason.

www.chicitysports.com

But,it could be us I guess.....Id rather see him here than the one of our division teams......
Sweat had only 5.5 sacks last season,not worth that 2nd we gave for him,but that all could change adding Garret,along with the secondary.

But I still doubt this happens myself....its just a story for clicks imo.

Yeah, that’s a story for clicks. Everything on that site regarding the bears at this point in time is for clicks. The NFL personnel are practically on vacation until the combine.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

LSD, its 1 game. Smith is a probowler. The Chiefs as a whole on offense played horrible. And they arent a terrible offense.

Even if he were bad, a bad KC lineman is still better than a good Bears lineman.

Props to the Eagles for the way they played. But with everyone thinking KC was gonna pull off the 3peat, safe to say that maybe there was some team-wide overconfidence.

Actually, it was two games that he sucked, and both were postseason, which is when you face your toughest competition. Those are the games where you want you best players to show why they're making the big coin, and make no mistake about it, Smith is gonna rake with his new contact.

OTOH, I also agree last season he put up some serious PFF grades, can't take that away from the man. So I really should say I'm not jumping off the bandwagon, and if the Bears end up inking him I'll of course 100% be rooting for him. But it also won't bother me if he signs with another team.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Been reading or watching on the net a lot of rumor discussion about who we keep/cut or restructure contracts this offseason, primarily to grow our cap space, which presently sits around $63m. One of the more brought up names in terms of cutting has been Kevin Byard. I think his name is mentioned a bunch in part because of his age, 31 and his salary, which totals $8m counting bonuses and stuff. But his cap hit is listed at $8.5m, so doesn't that pretty much offset the gain we'd otherwise receive in the cap? I'm asking because honestly I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed when it comes to understanding the financial workings of the NFL, and in particular when it comes to contracts. Secondly, yes he's 31, but I thought he played pretty well last year. He was at the very least a definitive improvement over previous starter Eddie Jackson. Maybe if we trade him, that would give us the cap space increase, but if not, I say keep him. And of course if we were to trade him, we'd be llikely receive a 7th rounder or at best a conditional 6th in the '26 draft.

 

[justanidiot]

I guess it all depends on how Allen thinks Byard fits in his defense. I mean when Mr Biles ended up forced into the starter role, I think I missed Hicks more than I would have missed Byard.
I know I posted at nauseum, but I still think there is hope for Stevenson at safety. We have some really good CB's on this roster that we can do the Johnson and Johnson as 1 and 2 and let Stevenson roam free and hit people like he wants to do. Give him the you dont have to cover one guy all over the field, just cover the guy going deep and make a break on the football or be the second guy responsible.
I am a little more worried about paying top money to those Chiefs interior free agents that got embarassed by the eggles in the super bowl as the reason they cut Byard and push the money to the offensive line instead. We need these 2nd 3rd and 4th round picks to start hitting and getting significant playing time. They have filled the needs with free agents and seemed to use the wants during the draft.

 

[BearsWillWin]

I guess it all depends on how Allen thinks Byard fits in his defense. I mean when Mr Biles ended up forced into the starter role, I think I missed Hicks more than I would have missed Byard.
I know I posted at nauseum, but I still think there is hope for Stevenson at safety. We have some really good CB's on this roster that we can do the Johnson and Johnson as 1 and 2 and let Stevenson roam free and hit people like he wants to do. Give him the you dont have to cover one guy all over the field, just cover the guy going deep and make a break on the football or be the second guy responsible.
I am a little more worried about paying top money to those Chiefs interior free agents that got embarassed by the eggles in the super bowl as the reason they cut Byard and push the money to the offensive line instead. We need these 2nd 3rd and 4th round picks to start hitting and getting significant playing time. They have filled the needs with free agents and seemed to use the wants during the draft.

Stephenson gets routinely lost playing zone coverage. He's actually better in sticky man coverage.

Moving him to safety would be the absolute worst idea imaginable.

 

[Lake Shore Drive]

Didn't have this guy on my radar, mainly because I'm not looking for a short term stopgap, but if Poles does seek a 1-2 year fix:

Lions free agent profile: Kevin Zeitler one of Detroit’s biggest dominoes

Detroit’s path to continued to success will be paved by the offensive line, and Kevin Zeitler could be key to getting the job done.

www.prideofdetroit.com

Zeitler will be playing in his age 34 season. He spent last year with the Lions (as in with Ben Johnson). He has a reputation for durability and dependability, two traits that are often missing with our OL and especially our IOL. And generally speaking, so long as offensive linemen remain healthy, then 34 is not quite as old as it would be for other positions. Here's his PFF rating with the Lions last year:

16 games (16 starts) — 1,047 snaps (25th out of 135 guards)
PFF grade: 86.8 (4th among 83 qualifying OTs — minimum 236 snaps)
PFF pass blocking grade: 71.8 (21st of 78)
PFF run blocking grade: 87.2 (2nd of 81)

Hardly chopped liver numbers, altho it also might be fair to say that his impressive output was due in part to playing in what is arguably the best OL in the league. Still, he's familiar with a Johnson offense and even tho he'd at most be a short term solution, he could serve as a bridge to a younger talented lineman. Plus he shouldn't break the bank. Wouldn't mind one bit Poles taking a flier on this guy.