Bear Digest

Six bargain free agent fits for Chicago Bears on defensive line

The fit and cost play big roles in any free agent signing and the Bears can find some on defense whose cash and talent type matches their needs.
Gene Chamberlain|
QB Justin Herbert is sacked by Colts defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo. The Colts edge is a free agent who fits the Bears scheme.
QB Justin Herbert is sacked by Colts defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo. The Colts edge is a free agent who fits the Bears scheme. | Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

So much of free agency is finding players at lower cost and squeezing out productivity, or finding those who are beginning to peak.

More than anything, it's finding the right fit.

Bringing cap cut free agent Joey Bosa to the Chicago area makes so much sense from a logistics standpoint for the Bears compared to some of the other edge rusher options being discussed that it's almost comical.

It's an exact fit.

Besides talent, it makes sense on a familiarity front since Bosa is the great-grandson of the late and former leader of the Chicago "outfit," Tony "The Big Tuna" Accardo. The Chicago outfit is not a band or something—think Tony Soprano.

There's more in Bosa's blood than former mob bosses, as he has football/family ties from the area. His uncle is Eric Kumerow, a former Bear and Dolphin. His great uncle was Mike Pyle, the famed Bears center of the 1960s. His cousin is Jake Kumerow, former Packers/Bengals/Patriots receiver.

Bosa is a good enough pass rusher to balance out the Bears front as a five-time Pro Bowl player and 2016 defensive rookie of the year.  

The entire problem with Bosa becomes price and health.

He's 29 and for several years could still be effective, but he has missed 23 games in the last three years, 28 in the last five and 51 for his career due to injuries. An unselfish player, he took a pay cut last year to stay with the Chargers and play with Khalil Mack but the Chargers couldn't continue the cycle of injuries at a high rate so they let him go. They might even be able to pay and keep Khalil Mack now with Bosa gone.

At 6-5, 280, Bosa is an exact fit for the scheme of Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen's, which had a 280-pounder on one edge and a 260-pounder on the other side for the last seven years in New Orleans.

Price is the thing. It's a negotiating thing and nothing anyone can assume at this point.

There are players who look like exact fits in free agency for the Bears on the defensive side in this signing period. Here are top fits to consider.

1. DE Dayo Odeyingbo, Colts

They wouldn't have the bank broken on this signing but he wouldn't come cheap according to Pro Football Focus, at a projected $16.4 million a year for four years. But that's a price teams have to realize is average to less in this market for someone who starts. The size is ideal for Allen's scheme at 6-6, 286. He had 16 1/2 sacks in four years and seems to be arriving at a peak, although his drop to three sacks last year after eight and five the previous two years. With 21 tackles for loss and 58 QB pressures over the last three years, he seems like a player ready to break loose as a force at the perfect age of 25.

2. DT Levi Onwuzurike, Lions

There's nothing better than weakening a rival by taking their players. They've already taken the coaches, and now Onwuzurike would fit in perfectly for their defensive tackle rotation with Andrew Billings and Gervon Dexter. At 6-3, 290, he's a classic three-technique type and is over earlier back injury issues from 2022. His numbers show a player who is largely untapped but well known to Johnson. The two years and $8.25 million a year projected by PFF seems a bit steep for his lack of past numbers but still not extremely high for a younger, blossoming player at a need position.

3. DE Chauncey Golston, Cowboys

At 6-5, 268, his size is a good Bears fit at end but even better is the way he is trending up. Golston was just another guy for three years in a rotation and had 3 1/2 sacks and three tackles for loss. But in Year 4 the Cowboys saw something and ratcheted up his play count by almost three times his total in 2022 and 2023 once Dan Quinn was gone. He became a true starter and came up with 5 1/2 sacks and five tackles for loss. At PFF projections of $6.25 million a year and 27 years old, he could be the steal teams look for in signings. 

4. DE Matthew Judon, Falcons

The debate becomes whether they can squeeze something out of the tube here or it's empty. GM Ryan Poles thought there was something left last year when he tried trading for Judon but didn't land him. He is the ideal eight at 275 pounds to play one edge in their scheme. He's been relatively healthy, with only a 2023 torn biceps as an injury issue in the last four years.

A four-time Pro Bowl player, he'd been a consistent producer in the pass rush and even in a poor 2024 season he had as many sacks as Montez Sweat did for the Bears (5 1/2) but only nine QB hits and 50 sacks for a career that started in 2018, he still could have plenty of meat left on the bone and is projected at only $4.2 million by Spotrac.com and $4.5 million a year by PFF.

5. DE Marcus Davenport, Lions

If the Bears want a third or fourth defensive end in a rotation, they could do much worse. Injuries have always been his issue as he's never had a full season and the last two played six total games for the Vikings and Lions. Before that, he played 11 games or more every season for Dennis Allen's defense with a high of nine sacks and nine tackles for loss. Spotrac.com estimates his value at only $2.2 million a year.

What Davenport did when healthier wasn't always apparent in sack totals but his quarterback hit totals were high. He had 60 for his first five years and 95 pressures. A torn triceps last year finished his season early after he had an ankle injury in 2023 cut his Vikings season to only four games. Davenport missed 20 games in five Saints season and his only experience with Johnson was last year with two games played. Would all that scare the Bears away? The price definitely wouldn't if he's brought in as one of several edge rush backups.

6. DT Poona Ford, Chargers

Projected at $6.6 million by Spotrac.com but only PFF at only $3.5 million but only $6. Ford might be an ideal third in a defensive tackle rotation with Dexter and Billings. He actually graded out the fifth-best defensive tackle in the league out of 118 interior defenders last year according to PFF. His height, at 5-11, is always considered a problem but as the three-technique or one-technique in a rotation he can make sense. Plus, at 306 pounds at that height he is like trying to move a tree stump. Allen's ideal defensive linemen are longer than Ford, but he's more of a havoc creator who lets others make plays.

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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.