Second Ogunjobi Bid?
Bears fans used to seeing a dominant defensive front against the run since the end of the John Fox era were in for a rude awakening last year.
Even with Eddie Goldman on the field again and when Akiem Hicks was healthy, they experienced difficulty stopping the run at times and eventually finished 23rd, their worst finish since 2016.
It doesn't promise to get much better this year because their defensive tackle situation is a total question mark.
When Larry Ogunjobi failed his physical, the Bears rushed right over to sign Justin Jones, who actually was graded as a better player by Pro Football Focus last year than Ogunjobi.
However, Jones wasn't an elite player and graded 60th out of 109 interior defensive linemen PFF graded, at 57.9. He did have a strong 2020 season according to this grading method with a 70.6 score, 38th of 126 defensive linemen. This was a bit of aberration as he never got above 88th best interior defensive lineman in his other two seasons.
So it's not like the Bears have settled their three technique situation for the foreseeable future, and besides that they gave Jones only a two-year contract.
They need help up front, whether it's at the three or the one technique.
The defensive line positions in Matt Eberflus' defense are rotated with great regularity to keep the rush men fresh all game. They don't even have the players to rotate.
The current interior defensive line situation is not only weak but confusing.
The Bears signed Auzoyah Alufohai and had him in training camp but then Green Bay had him in November on its practice squad before cutting him again. Then the Bears signed him again before they had regime change. At 6-foot-4, 320, and considering his past with 3-4 defenses, he is a two-gap player and now he's on a roster for a team with a one-gap approach.
Angelo Blackson is under contract still and at 6-4, 315, isn't a blob waiting to plug two gaps in the middle. Still, he is not a one-gap defensive lineman. He never has been. He played in 3-4 base defenses in Tennessee, Houston and Arizona before coming to the Bears last year. Blackson played the most snaps of his career—55% of all defensive reps—with the Bears while Akiem Hicks and Eddie Goldman battled through injury or COVID issues last year. But he's a player for a different system than the 4-3.
Khyiris Tonga is 6-4, 338 and the second-year former BYU player has two-gap written all over him. That's not a gap-shooting explosive three technique. They might want to try him as the one technique but his speed is the issue.
LaCale London is a 6-5, 316-pound lineman the Bears signed undrafted out of Western Illinois two years ago and he was only in the 280s before they added bulk to him. Now he'll have to shed that weight because of the upfield approach and there's no reason to expect he can do this.
The only player who fits the front the Bears now play besides Jones is Mario Edwards Jr., but he might fit it more as an end than a tackle. He is 6-3, 277 and the Bears were using him as a defensive tackle in nickel situations when they needed another rushing interior lineman as they flipped out of their base 3-4 to a 4-3.
Edwards did a solid job of this in 2020 and earned a three-year $11.6 million extension, but last year proved a disappointment and it's unclear how he would fit for Eberflus' defense.
So the Bears definitely would need help in the draft, if not in the remainder of free agency.
Bear Report's Zack Pearson lists visits with college prospects and the Bears have apparently been very active in this area, having visited with San Diego State's Cameron Thomas, Ohio State's Haskell Garrett, Nebraska's Damion Daniels, Minnesota's Esezi Otomewo and Syracuse's Joshua Black.
Thomas might be of special interest because his three seasons included 20.5 tackles for loss and 20 sacks even though he was somewhat undersized. He has a real knack for disruption. Garrett had 7 1/2 sacks and 13 tackles for loss for the Buckeyes, similar numbers to Otomewo.
There is one other possibility, although it now seems remote.
The Bears failed to sign Larry Ogunjobi when he failed a physical. ESPN's Jeremy Fowler indicates the Bengals might try to sign him back after he is able to pass a physical following the foot injury he suffered in the playoffs in January.
The Bears tried giving Ogunjobi a reported $40.5 million for three years before he wasn't up to the physical. What kind of money would he pull down now after failing the physical and then missing the start of the signing period?
The Bengals are within $2 million of cap space of what the Bears have available. Overthecap.com had the Bears at $17.7 million free on March 27.
A major problem with this situation is the time element. Unsigned free agents have until July 22 to sign with a new team. Whether Ogunjobi would be able to sign a contract by then depends on if he can pass the physical. If not, his contract would revert back to the Bengals if they tender him an offer at 110% of last year's salary.
It's a consideration for the Bears, although after a failure of that type it would seem unlikely they'll be interested going forward. Waiting until July 22 puts it within a week of training camp and it's too late to be adding players.
Besides, they've committed too much of their available cap space to make a run of this type again at Ogunjobi. They'd have other needs for the money, like getting Roquan Smith a new contract.
Regardless, the Bears need suitable defensive line help, their draft pick supply is low and free agency is now in its later stages.
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