Are Bears Sitting on Their Hands?
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They're all still out there lurking among free agents available, conspicuous by their total number of sacks and big money made in the past.
Of course, it's the list of edge rushers who remain unsigned with free agency now 2 1/2 months old and the Bears still can add one.
They still should add one, unless somehow Dominique Robinson figured out over the offseason how to play what is a relatively new position to him, or they're certain Trevis Gipson will have a better second year in this defense or both Rasheem Green and DeMarcus Walker are better at making sacks than their past seasons say.
Sports Illustrated's Gilberto Manzano has posted his top 10 remaining free agents and best landing spots.
Considering five of the top eight are edge rushers, it would seem the Bears have should have their pick of player at a need spot because they still have the most available salary cap space.
Yet, Manzano has Yannick Ngakoue's best spot as the New York Jets, Frank Clark's as the Detroit Lions, Jadeveon Clowney as the New Orleans Saints, Melvin Ingram's as the Houston Texans and Leonard Floyd's as the Carolina Panthers.
In each case there are good reasons to think those players might be more interested in those teams listed than the Bears.
Yet, not one explanation for any of the players' signings includes cash and that's what these players are out hunting for at this late point in free agency.
A few of them might be more concerned with landing on a potential championship team, so it's easy to see why Ngakoue or any of the others might want to play for the Jets. But the Jets have only $3 million in effective cap space at this point so unless Ngakoue is going to get a side payment from Aaron Rodgers, there's no reason to think he'd be headed for New York.
The Lions would be a team any of these edge rusher could go to because of their potential and $17 million in effective cap space, according to Overthecap.com.
The Texans and even the perennially cap-strapped Saints have managed to scrounge up some cash they could use for an edge rusher.
But none of these teams can approach the $27.7 million in effective cap space the Bears possess. Carolina is second at $19.8 million and Arizona third at $18.3 million.
So there must be a reason the Bears haven't made a move and here are the possibilities.
1. Age
An interview Matt Eberflus did for The33rdteam.com with former Bears coach Dave Wannstedt mentions this. The Bears made an attempt to get younger in the offseason and they already had the fifth-youngest roster at the end of last season after they were the NFL's oldest roster ending 2021 under Matt Nagy. These edge rushers available are not long-term solutions and this is a building team.
What good does bringing in an older player who will take away repetitions from a younger player do in the rebuilding process?
The Bears invested a draft pick in Robinson and GM Ryan Poles is going to want to give him every opportunity to show some development. If they bring in an old player who comes in to rush on passing downs, how is a younger pass rusher going to develop?
2. System Fit
With Ngakoue, it's easy to see the Bears avoiding him because he doesn't attempt to stop the run. The two defensive ends they signed in free agency, Walker and Rasheem Green, are more stout run-stopping types at end. Gipson was ranked sixth in the NFL by ESPN for run-stopping efficiency among ends last year. Stopping the run is a critical thing but also key is tackling ability. Defensive ends who can tackle on screen passes or quick throws out to the side are essentially stopping a running play. Ngakoue is a horrendous tackler, unless it's the quarterback he's trying to get. From 2018-2020, he never missed less than 19.6% of his tackle attempts. Last year he missed a career-best 9.4% and in 2021 12.5%. Baltimore didn't bring him back after he wound up there in 2020. In fact, he hasn't been good enough to entice any team to keep him past a stay in any season since he left Jacksonville.
Some of the others are better system fits for the Bears but not Leonard Floyd, who has long-since proven he is a 3-4 outside liebacker and not a 4-3 defensive end. Besides, been there and done that.
3. Cash
Yes, the Bears have plenty of it. But some of these players might be looking to land more than Ryan Poles is willing to pay. It seems late in the process for big paychecks but remember, tackle Riley Reiff was a training camp addition as practices were starting last year and eventually came away with $7.5 million. Ngakoue earned $13 million from each of his last two teams. Clark's cap number with the Chiefs was $13.3 million last year.
The other part of this is what the Bears need for cash. In the aforementioned interview by Wannstedt with Eberflus, the team's desire to sign some of its players to contract extensions is mentioned. Jaylon Johnson, Cole Kmet, Darnell Mooney, Chase Claypool, Justin Jones, Gipson, Kindle Vildor—the list goes on and on of Bears whose contracts expire after this season and they'd like to devote some of the remaining cash to this if possible.
"We'll make the best decisions for the Bears but we have some guys currently on our team that we want to re-sign, that's in due time when Ryan and those guys look at those things," Eberflus told Wannstedt.
4. Production or Lack Thereof
Clowney has made 14 sacks over his last four seasons. They can get better production than he has had in those seasons from both Walker and Green. Clowney has only 43 sacks to show for nine career seasons, not even a 5.0 average.
Ingram's sack totals peaked in 2017. That was a long time ago. Clark made 40 sacks between 2016-2019, and 15 1/2 total since then.
If teams are shelling out cash for a stop-gap, hired gun type of pass rusher as these players all would be, they want bigger production.
5. Regression
Bringing in free agents at great cost is harkening back to the bad old days of Ryan Pace. Signing stop-gap free agents is the kind of thing he did regularly and fouled up the salary cap this way. Poles wants nothing to do with this.
6. Calendar
It's late May, not June 1, not a week before training camp. There is usually a rush to sign unsigned edge rushers as camp approaches and teams have gone over their minicamp and OTA film to gain a better grasp of their needs.
Just wait until July and things could change. Players become more reasonable in their demands when they see camps ready to start. Or teams become more willing to part with their cash.
7. They Have the Answer
Gipson could be their answer and just needed the year in the single-gap 4-3 front to figure it out.
Gipson was a much better tackler last year than in his first two years, missing just 3.1% of his attempts. It's part of the reason ESPN rated him so high on the list of run-stopping ends. Gipson had production last year but just arrived half a step late, but a year in the system could help make up for that step. Last year he had more quarterback hits (11) than in his first two seasons combined. He also had a career-best 18 pressures according to Sportradar. Given another year in a system where he doesn't need to be dropping back into pass coverage as an outside linebacker on occasion, and the seven sacks he had starting just nine games in 2021, Gipson could be their answer as an edge rusher.
8. Incomplete List
The list Manzano puts out is not complete. At least the list itself is not complete. At the bottom of his top 10 he has a group of other players who didn't make the top 10. One of those is Justin Houston.
It only makes sense for the Bears to entertain thoughts of bringing in Houston. He played for the Chiefs when Ryan Poles was there, played for the Colts when Matt Eberflus was defensive coordinator. Houston had 19 sacks in two seasons at Indianapolis, 78 in his eight KC seasons and even last year in Baltimore made 9 1/2 sacks at age 33 as part of a rotation as a backup for the first time. Unless he's lost a great deal since last year, he could be an ideal fit.
Add Houston onto the top 10 and make it a top 11, and maybe the Bears become a top landing spot.
Houston might be older and doesn't fit a rebuild, he's also actually been an outside linebacker and not a defensive end for 10 of his 12 seasons, but he can help against the run and pass.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
