Curtis Samuel, D.J. Wonnum Sign Elsewhere
The Bears are simply unable to land their most needed complementary players in free agency.
It's not surprising when they haven't even been able to find a home for Justin Fields.
While they were able to patch gaps on the offensive line with center Coleman Shelton to compete with Ryan Bates, found another running back in D'Andre Swift and signed a tight end to go with Cole Kmet, their two most talented players are still acting as solo acts.
That's edge rusher Montez Sweat and wide receiver DJ Moore.
The Bears were supposed to bring DJ Wonnum to Halas Hall Thursday and the former Vikings edge rusher has had eight sacks twice in his four-year career. Instead, he visited Carolina first and the Panthers signed him. He received a two-year deal at $14.5 million according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.
So the edge rusher is still a huge need, unless they want to see the same thing happen to Sweat that happened to Khalil Mack. Opponents ganged up on him repeatedly with two or three blockers and eventually small injuries led to wear and tear. His sack numbers dropped and so did his games played.
The Bears still are counting on DeMarcus Walker and Dominique Robinson as the other edges in their rotation.
At receiver, they made an early move for Gabe Davis according to reports. However, the former Bills receiver signed with Jacksonville for the same three years and $39 million Darnell Mooney got to leave the Bears for Atlanta.
A receiver often attached to Bears interest is Curtis Samuel, mainly because he's good friends with Moore and played with him in Carolina. But Samuel signed with Buffalo on Thursday per his agency, Athletes First. He received $30 million for three years, or $3 million less per year than Mooney got.
The Bears have Tyler Scott and Velus Jones Jr., and practice squad people now behind Moore.
The biggest question remains at quarterback, of course. Justin Fields hasn't been traded but at least he has guys still. One of them is D'Andre Swift, the new Bears running back acquired in free agency.
"Yeah, Justin's my guy," Swift said at Halas Hall Thursday.
That's because the two of them were at Georgia together in 2018. Then Fields went to Ohio State.
"I've always been a Justin Fields fan—from Georgia to when he was in high school once I first found out about him," said Swift, who is from Philadelphia originally. "I feel like he hasn't even touched the ceiling of who he can be. I'm excited to see him keep going."
As of now, he might still get the chance to touch that ceiling Chicago because there is no trade on the horizon.
Swift was just voicing his support for a former Bulldog and not expressing any insight into where Fields might wind up.
"That's a decision for the people up in those offices," he said. "I can't really focus on that too much. I Have to worry about my job and my task at hand. I'm sure that's a decision that they will make."
Another potential landing spot for Fields seemed to vanish. If Seattle wanted to acquire him to back up or challenge Geno Smith, it went out the window when the Seahawks traded for Washington Commanders quarterback Sam Howell.
The Commanders have the second pick in the draft and are expected to draft either North Carolina QB Drake Maye or LSU QB Jayden Daniels after the Bears draft Caleb Williams.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
