{"id":217109,"date":"2025-02-17T13:00:38","date_gmt":"2025-02-17T18:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=217109"},"modified":"2025-02-16T17:26:32","modified_gmt":"2025-02-16T22:26:32","slug":"5-crucial-tasks-facing-the-bears-in-free-agency","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2025\/02\/17\/5-crucial-tasks-facing-the-bears-in-free-agency\/","title":{"rendered":"5 Crucial Tasks Facing the Bears in Free Agency"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Chicago Bears are heading into an offseason where they can’t afford to make mistakes. While free agency<\/a> won’t solve all their issues, there are five critical decisions the Bears must make before it’s too late.<\/p>\n

5 Crucial Tasks Facing the Bears in Free Agency<\/h2>\n

1. Upgrade at Center<\/h3>\n

Year after year, Bears’ quarterbacks struggle behind poor center play. It’s time to put an end to that. The Bears must act fast with a weak draft class and limited free-agent options at center.<\/p>\n

The ideal solution is signing Drew Dalman, one of the league’s top run-blockers, to a long-term deal. Ryan Kelly is the next best option if that doesn’t pan out. Although he’s on the older side at 31, Kelly has consistently been one of the top centers in the NFL.<\/p>\n

Read More: Bears Urged to Solve Key Issue Early in Free Agency<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

2. Invest in a Guard<\/h3>\n

The Bears desperately need to revamp the interior offensive line.<\/a> They likely won’t fix all the problems on the offensive line during free agency, but it’s paramount they sign at least one starting guard. The top target should be Trey Smith,<\/a> but if that doesn’t work out, the Bears could pursue Mekhi Becton, James Daniels, or Will Fries<\/a> as long-term solutions. If they opt for veteran experience, Brandon Scherff and Kevin Zeitler are names to watch.<\/p>\n

3. Move on from Keenan Allen and Teven Jenkins<\/h3>\n

The Bears and Teven Jenkins<\/a> have tried to make the relationship work, and it hasn’t. It’ll be good for the Bears to move on and for Jenkins to have a fresh start elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Keenan Allen was acquired to be Caleb Williams’<\/a> safety net as a rookie, but given his age, it’ll be wise for the Bears to use their money to invest in younger talent. Only bring back Allen if it’s a team-friendly deal.<\/p>\n

4. Spend Big on a Defensive Tackle or Edge Rusher?<\/h3>\n

The Bears currently have $63 million in cap space<\/a> according to OverTheCap. With more pressing needs on the offensive line, the Bears have to decide on whether to spend big on a defensive tackle or edge rusher. There are quality free agents at both positions, so it’ll be interesting to see what route they take.<\/p>\n

At edge rusher, there are a ton of options from young guys like Malcolm Koonce, Dayo Odeyingbo, Azeez Ojulari, Chase Young,<\/a> and Josh Sweat, as well as older vets like Khalil Mack,<\/a> Haason Reddick, Matt Judon, and DeMarcus Lawerence to name a few.<\/p>\n

At defensive tackle, keep an eye on Milton Williams, Davon Kinlaw, Levi Onwuzurike, Derrick Nnadi, Teair Tart,<\/a> and Osa Odighizuwa. There are more options, so the hope is the Bears invest big in at least one of the two positions.<\/p>\n

The draft class<\/a> is loaded at both positions, especially defensive tackle, so the Bears might not even invest big-time money during free agency, but they should definitely add a few pieces to the defensive line room.<\/p>\n

5. Add Safety Depth<\/h3>\n

Kevin Byard is a stud, but he’s in the last year of his contract and 31 years old. He’s not the long-term solution and with Jaquan Brisker’s history of concussions, the Bears could benefit from bringing in another safety.<\/a><\/p>\n

Several talented safeties under 26 years old could be great additions, including Jeremy Chinn, Julian Blackmon, and Trevon Moehrig. Investing in competition at safety would provide much-needed long-term stability.<\/p>\n

Main Image: Kirby Lee – USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With free agency nearing the corner, here are 5 crucial tasks the Chicago Bears must address during FA.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4976,"featured_media":217137,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[33071,7657,7403,8123,9084,504,2460,8010,7240],"class_list":["post-217109","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bears","tag-2025-nfl-free-agency","tag-bears-featured","tag-chicago-bears-news","tag-drew-dalman","tag-jaquan-brisker","tag-keenan-allen","tag-kevin-byard","tag-teven-jenkins","tag-trey-smith"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217109","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217109"}],"version-history":[{"count":34,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217109\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217383,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217109\/revisions\/217383"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217109"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217109"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217109"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}