Bear Digest

Free Agency Projection Has Bears Vying for Trio of Needed Players

Lack of salary cap cash could keep the Bears from landing big names in free agency but SI's projections say they have a chance to avoid being shut out.
Gene Chamberlain|
Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal tries to drag down Chiefs receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown.
Chiefs linebacker Leo Chenal tries to drag down Chiefs receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown. | Jay Biggerstaff-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The potential for Bears free agency additions appears limited because of their lack of salary cap space.

In this respect, a projected free agency landing spot article by Sports Illustrated' Gilberto Manzano and Matt Verderame rings true to real life. The duo listed the top 50 free agents, potential contracts and their landing spots. For the Bears, free agency looks like more of a dry water bed than a big splash due to a lack of cash.

However, the SI duo does foresee the Bears as a potential landing spot for a few free agents, and all make complete sense. Seeing them come up with the cash for all three might make the least sense.

No Byard?

The problem with the list is they do not include All-Pro safety Kevin Byard as a top 50 free agent and they do have safety Jaquan Brisker on it. They project the Bears will lose Brisker and his contract will be two years at $13 million a year.

They definitely will not have Brisker back at that cost, considering his injury past as well as his overall production. He hasn't been a consistently outstanding performer, although he definitely has flashed outstanding play. His last game was an example of this.  

Brisker is regarded as their 30th best free agent and the potential landing spots for him are Dallas and Buffalo.

"Brisker seemed to be headed toward a decorated career after back-to-back stellar seasons in 2022 and ‘23," Manzano wrote, without including the fact Brisker had concussions those two seasons. "But the second-round pick had an injury plagued ’24 season and struggled early to find a rhythm under Dennis Allen’s new scheme."

The injury in 2024 was also a concussion and he didn't play again because of it after the fifth game.

The Bears are regarded as potential landing spots for three free agents, and one is sure to excite fans even if he isn't the player many would like to see at the position. Like Chicago Bears OnSI has written, Khalil Mack would be an ideal Bears landing spot as a part of their defensive line rotation, and SI's duo sees them as one of three potential landing spots for the 35-year-old, nine-time Pro Bowl edge.

Their contract projection is definitely friendly as none of the other projections for Mack's cash are this low, at $12 million for one year. At that rate, the couldn’t go wrong.

The scary part for the Bears is one of the two other potential landing spots is Detroit. Facing their All-Pro edge would not be an ideal scenario. The other potential landing spot was Tampa Bay.

"While his Defensive Player of the Year and All-Pro days are long gone, he’s still a force worthy of a meaningful one-year deal," Verderame wrote.

Brisker replacement

A way for the Bears to replace Brisker is projected, and that's with Chiefs free agent safety Bryan Cook on a three-year, $15 million deal.

"The 2022 second-round pick was a reliable player during the Chiefs' three consecutive trips to the Super Bowl," Manzano wrote. "But he took his game to another level this season, recording a career-high 86 total tackles and six passes defensed."

Manzano also brought up the possibility of many suitors for him and in that case the Bears seem an unlikely landing spot. The Steelers are the only other potential landing spot listed.

Paying $15 million for a free agent safety doesn't seem like something in the Bears' wheelhouse. They could likely  pay much less and keep Kevin Byard for a few years. And Byard is a player Poles has already said he wants back.

The other player listed as a potential Bears acquisition is also a Chiefs free agent and also suggested as an ideal Bears fit by Chicago Bears OnSI, and that's linebacker Leo Chenal.

They only regard Chenal as the 44th best free agent and project a three-year, $25 million deal. Pro Football Focus has Chenal as a top-20 free agent even though they call him underrated.

"Chenal is an intriguing player," Verderame wrote, although he correctly points  out Chenal played at least half the defensive snaps only once in his four Kansas City seasons.

"He projects as a potential three-down linebacker with the ability to run with backs and tight ends," Verderame wrote.

He also comes with a great ability to make hits in the backfield and to blitz, which would make him an ideal weakside in the Dennis Allen defensive scheme.

The Bears don't want to tie up too much of their cap future with restructured deals for veterans and free agents now because of contracts they'll need to do for Darnell Wright and Caleb Williams in coming seasons. Still, they need some talent infusions.

A limited free agency participation like SI's duo projects seems probable. In fact,  if they came out of it with all three of those they list the Bears in the mix for it would be a bit of a surprise.

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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.