Early Salvage Operation for Bears

When Bears GM Ryan Poles can finally start to pursue the best free agents available, it seems he'll have a valuable asset on his side.

Justin Jones is evidence of coach Matt Eberflus' ability to recruit players.

In a sense, Poles has a strong wind in his face and has chosen to defer until next year when it will be at his back. He'll have a tremendous amount of cap space then to greatly improve the roster. Until then he's focusing on players who are higher character, effort-types and his only real expenditure was the $40.5 million deal for Larry Ogunjobi, whose deal collapsed because of his failed physical.

Left with a huge hole at three technique without Ogunjobi, the Bears scrambled after Chargers defensive tackle Justin Jones. However, Jones had already decided he was going to sign with Eberflus' old team, the Colts. Then came the phone call at what Jones estimates was midnight. Next thing he knew, he was in Chicago the next morning.

"Honestly, I was getting ready to go with the Colts, got a call late last night from coach Flus," Jones said. "He told me, 'look, this will be a great opportunity,' for me. He said, 'I really think you fit right in with our guys, you fit right in with our scheme, you fit right in with what we're trying to accomplish. The way you go about your work, the way you go about as a character, as a man, it just fits in with what we have going on with the Bears.

"And I just fell in love with the conversation we had and I believed in what he was talking about and here we are today."

So Eberflus came to Poles' rescure by reeling in their next-best choice after the disaster of Ogunjobi's failed physical. It's not likely to make Eberflus too popular in Indianapolis, where he already stole the Colts defensive staff to come work for him in Chicago.

Jones is like most of the less costly free agents sought by Poles so far in that he is younger and seems to be ascending. He is coming off his best season, with three sacks, 37 tackles and five or loss with 11 starts.

"Once I knew coach Flus was here, I always thought this would be a good place for me, a good fit for me," Jones said. "What happened with Larry is terrible. He’s a great guy. Coming from Cincinnati, he played with one of my best friends, B.J. Hill."

Y’all do know Free Agents choose where they go right? Poles can’t just sign anyone lmao. They have to be interested in coming to Chicago. Doesn’t matter how reasonable the deal is, JuJu PICKED the Chiefs 🤣
— Sadeek 𓋹 (@SadeekNextWave) March 20, 2022

The Bears would do well to have that full college defensive front Jones played for at North Carolina State: Bradley Chubb, Hill, Jones and Kentavius Street. All are in the NFL and Jones probably is the least well known but hopes to address this. Hill was his closest friend on the line since the two came from the same county in South Carolina.

"He was a nose, I was a three technique, obviously (playing) with Chubb and Street," Jones said. "That D-line right there was a pretty good group of guys. And you know they'll be my friends until I'm not here (on earth) any more."

Since Hill was a teammate of Ogunjobi's in Cincinnati, Jones knows the player who he is replacing in some respects. Jones and Ogunjobi have worked out in the past.

Jones knows he'll have a lot to live up to if he is going to make the Bears forget they pursued Ogunjobi first.

"Larry, a hell of a player, made a lot of plays last year," Jones said. "He deserved everything he was about to get. That’s just terrible how that went about.

"But it's an opportunity that I can take advantage of and I'm really excited to be here, really excited to get to know these guys, get to work with these guys and just show them, 'Hey, I'm here to win games with you guys, I'm here to win a championship and I'm here to put on a show for these fans."

Besides his recruiting ability, Eberflus is known for his 4-3 defensive scheme designed to creat turnovers. The scheme is what Jones thinks will help him continue to ascend.

"The Bears got me here to help the team, the scheme that's in place I'll be able to showcase my ability," Jones said. "I feel like the sky is the limit for the team as a hole.

"I feel like we all work together and we all play for each other like coach Flus talked about last night, like, sky is the limit for everybody in this building. And you know who's telling what we can do this next season. So I'm excited."

Considering the difficult task of rebuilding an entire team, it's quite likely to take more than this next season before it happens the way Jones described.

It will take time, more recruiting by Eberflus and most likely no more failed physicals by key players for the rebuild.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven