Bear Digest

Possible Targets for Chicago Bears to Watch as Franchise Tags Progress

Franchise tags can be applied starting Tuesday at 3 p.m. and on into March 3, and the Bears will be watching after the process led to one of their best moves last year.
Gene Chamberlain|
Lions QB Jared Goff gets sacked by Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson last season.
Lions QB Jared Goff gets sacked by Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Trey Hendrickson last season. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

It's tag day in the NFL, a date which formerly carried more significance but still can.

This is not the deadline to get it done but the start of tagging, and it can all begin at 3 p.m. The Bears obviously will not have free agents to tag from among their 22 unrestricted players but they way this could come down will be of real interest.

The cost of signing a tagged player is losing two first-round picks, so it's not worthwhile. The amount teams must agree to pay them is excessive: $47 million for QBs, $28 million at WR; $27.8 million OL; $27.6 million LBs; $27.4 million DTs; $26.7 million for DEs; $20.8 million for CBs and safties; $16 million for safeties; $14.2 million for backs; $6.8 millon for kickers and punters.

It's not so much trying to sign a tagged player but observing whether someone might go untagged or if they will, perhaps making a deal before it happens.

Last year they were among the watchful eyes looking at guard Trey Smith but the Chiefs spoiled everyone's fun.

It didn't matter to the Bears because the big amount the Chiefs paid for Smith meant they couldn't afford Joe Thuney and the 2025 NFL Protector of the Year came to the Bears in a trade.

Here are the main players to watch for tags from a Bears perspective based on ESPN and Pro Football Focus speculation. Smith and Tee Higgins were the only ones to actually get tagged last year after all the speculation.

Their teams have until 3 p.m. on March 3 to fix those franchise or transition tags in place before the NFL's unrestricted fre agent wheeling and dealing starts the next week.

DE Trey Hendrickson, Bengals

If, for some reason, Hendrickson goes untagged or untraded, he would have to be a player the Bears consider. His pass rush ability and past ties to Dennis Allen in New Orleans could make a fit, but remember, he only had one good pass rushing season in Allen's scheme.

Paying something ridiculous for a second edge rusher seems like the kind of thing Ryan Poles wouldn't want to see his team to do.

RB Kenneth Walker III, Seahawks

Some would consider Walker an upgrade over D'Andre Swift, but the evidence of this is really only this last season. If the Bears really had interest in giving up first-round draft picks to get a running back, they'd be better off trading up in Round 1 and taking Jeremyiah Love because of his power/speed/receiving blend. Walker's career numbers are rather unimpressive.

Edge Adafe Oweh, Chargers

He never attained elite edge rush status with Baltimore or the Chargers last year and doesn't fit Allen's scheme exactly at 251 pounds. He's also been a linebacker almost all of his career and not as stout an edge defender as some other options. It seems unlikely he'd be tagged but the Bears more likely would have interest in his former teammate, their own former player Khalil Mack. Signing Mack would be a good option as a short-term edge rush player who is big enough (269) to hold down the edge and defends the run and pass.

RB Travis Etienne, Jaguars

It seems unlikely they Jaguars would want to elevate Etienne's paygrade by as much as a tag carries. He's a good all-around threat and maybe slightly better as an option than Swift because he's younger and has had three 1,000-yard seasons. They're about the same speed for the 40 but Etienne carries an extra 10 pounds to put punch in his pads while Swift is only 204 pounds. Still, paying a lot more than Swift is getting for a back could hurt their cap situation. At least in the first year, they could have little problem fixing the cap cost even below what Swift's would be for this year by a few million. This isn't such an upgrade that it's worth the hassle.

T Jermaine Eluemunor, Giants

Not that he's elite or anything but the Giants like their right tackle and if he isn't tagged he could wind up one of the higher paid free agents at his position and playing elsewhere. He's a type the Bears could plug in at right tackle and then move Darnell Wright to left tackle if they desired.

More likely is they keep Wright where he s and look for a cheaper left tackle alternatives because it's all only temporary until Ozzy Trapilo returns later next season following recovery from knee surgery.

Trey Hendrickson is the player to watch as tagging begins.
Trey Hendrickson is the player to watch as tagging begins. | Katie Stratman-Imagn Images

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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.