Bear Digest

An Early Reminder Why Bears Must Be Thrifty Shoppers in Free Agency

Players started to get released on Monday by teams in advance of free agency and one player at a need position is a positive reminder about the need to be frugal.
Gene Chamberlain|
Former Dolphins edge Bradley Chubb tracks former Bears QB Justin Fields in a 2022 game.
Former Dolphins edge Bradley Chubb tracks former Bears QB Justin Fields in a 2022 game. | Jamie Sabau-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The rites of spring in the NFL start with free agency and there is a preseason to free agency that begins when salary cap cuts start.

They began in earnest on Monday and no doubt the release of edge rusher Bradley Chubb by Miami will send some Bears followers off onto social media demanding he be signed. It's like throwing a C-note up into a crowded room. People will fight with each other over something not really that valuable anymore.

The Bears have well-documented edge needs for both free agency and the draft but Chubb is no answer for them, just like many players who will be released in the next few weeks. Here's why they can take a pass, at least for now, on an available edge rusher.

1. Scheme Fit

Size-wise, Chubb could fit into the Bears' 4-3 scheme as an extra edge rusher. However, he spent no t just a year or two but his entire eight-year career with Denver and Miami playing in a 3-4 scheme at outside linebacker. He hasn't been the stout run-stopping edge in a 4-3 like Dennis Allen. Someone like Minnesota or Philadelphia could use this type of player in their scheme but the Bears' usage would be limited.

2. 2025 season

The 8 1/2-sack season in 2025 was no proof Chubb has come back from a horrible injury he suffered at the end of 2023. Chubb had a torn right ACL, meniscus damage, and patellar tendon rupture in Week 17 of 2023. He missed most of 2019 with a torn ACL in the other knee. After missing all of 2024, Chubb returned in 2025 to earn a Pro Football Focus grade of only 100th out of 115 overall, and 78th in pass rush. Still, there was one skill set that stood out and will appeal to teams who might try to talk him into a rotational edge role, and that is his 8 1/2 sacks and 22 pressures last season. His 48 sacks in seven seasons say he can be an effective part of a rotation, but depending on him as a stout 4-3 edge starter who stops the run and rushes the passer is asking something he has never done. It's easy to look at his 8 1/2 sacks and say that's a number the Bears could use in their rotation, but they're not running a similar scheme where he would even have chances for numbers like that.

3. Age

Most players just turning 30 aren't thinking of themselves as a rotational backup. They want bigger money and a starting role. The Bears are very high on Austin Booker's rapid development from late last year and also have Dayo Odeyingbo eventually returning, as well as Shemar Turner. They need productive all-round edge help but if it's going to be a costly veteran starter, it better be a star-quality player like Trey Hendrickson instead of someone to take up reps and contribute a sack or too in exchange for a big cap hit.

4. It's early

The early bird may get the worm but in NFL free agency anyone who pounces on the first cap cuts being made in February, 3 1/2 weeks ahead of the signing period, are showing no patience. The cost for Chubb's services could go down greatly once the actual open market begins and teams lose all those no longer under contract. Also, jumping on this opportunity means not signing another cap victim or free agent who might be out there in a few weeks.

5. Cost

Rarely would a player who had a cap cost of $31 million for the coming year become someone you could consider as bargain-basement type of signing. It's going to be a bigger contract demand by Chubb. The Bears lack the cap space for this. The bottom line to anything for the Bears in free agency is cost, and it's always going to be higher when there is no one else in the market driving things down. Waiting is the best course of action.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.