ESPN casts doubt on Chicago Bears' 2025 free agency moves

While the Chicago Bears have mostly received rave reviews for their 2025 free agency signings, ESPN had a different spin.

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The Chicago Bears have generally been considered big winners this offseason after a flurry of activity that improved the offensive and defensive lines through a blend of trades and 2025 free agency signings.

General manager Ryan Poles struck deals with the Kansas City Chiefs and Los Angeles Rams for Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson in two moves that instantly enhanced the pass protection for quarterback Caleb Williams. In free agency, Poles inked the top center on the open market, Drew Dalman, who will offer Williams a big assist in reading defenses and setting protections.

There's no doubt it was a job well done on offense, but Poles' decisions on defense, namely the signings of defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and edge defender Dayo Odeyingbo, aren't as clear.

In fact, according to ESPN's ranking of every NFL team's free agency performance, the Bears checked in at No. 15.

It's not a terrible ranking, but it's far from 'winning the offseason' for Chicago. And their lower-than-expected ranking was due, in large part, to the moves on defense.

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"I highlighted the Bears as my classic overpay team of the offseason, which is less of a criticism than it sounds," ESPN's Ben Solak wrote. "The nature of being a bad team with lots of money is that it ends up overpaying in free agency (see: every Patriots, Panthers and Jaguars deal this free agency). The problem is that big contract numbers set expectations that exceed the capacity of the additions.

"While the offensive line certainly elevates from incompetence to competency with the Dalman/Jackson/Thuney triumvirate, I'm not as convinced the defensive line made as enormous a jump with Jarrett and Odeyingbo. Jarrett's best football is behind him; Odeyingbo is a good rotational player. Both got paid like impactful starters, and I'll believe that level of impact once I see it."

Questions remain about Dayo Odeyingbo's potential impact for the Chicago Bears

It isn't surprising that Solak is questioning the Bears' decision to sign Odeyingbo to starter's money despite profiling more as a rotational player. The signing was questioned by Bears fans, too, who wondered whether Odeyingbo offers any additional upside over a guy like DeMarcus Walker, who produced at a similar rate as Odeyingbo in 2024.

However, Odeyingbo has long been viewed as a player with immense upside, and Chicago is betting on defensive coordinator Dennis Allen getting the best out of him.

"If you watch the tape, you understand how disruptive he can be, both inside and outside," Bears coach Ben Johnson said. "He's 25, he's played a few years in the league —and this goes into our collaboration and working well in terms of the front office and coaching staff. We believe that there's even more room to grow for him to continue to get better."

As for Grady Jarrett? Let's just agree to disagree with Solak. I'm not convinced Jarrett's best football is behind him; there's a year or two of high-level disruption left in his legs, especially on a Chicago Bears roster that will allow him to rotate with Andrew Billings and Gervon Dexter and remain fresh and explosive.

"You can't have enough pass rushers on your team," Bears GM Ryan Poles said, "but for this first group, to be able to align in different alignments, to be relentless and get the quarterback off the spot — Grady kind of hit on those topics yesterday — but for that part of our game, we all watched the Super Bowl, right? You want to have waves of pass rushers.

"So if all of those guys are getting better and they're working together, I really think we can affect the passer, and therefore it's going to put our team in a really good position."

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