I don't mind that the Bears are being modest with their free agent acquisitions this year. They were one play from the NFCC, had a ton of injuries, and most of their offseason losses (snap-wise) were on the defensive side of the ball, where they need upgrades anyway.

Also, just like every other year, there have been some outrageous deals going out. Jaelan Phillips led all free agents with $30M AAV and had 2 sacks in 8 games for PHI. Pierce resigned with the Colts but still got $28.5M, which is crazy high for a WR2. Hendrickson got $28M and Lindenbaum got $27M. Rarely do signings like that work out in the long run.

Of the 15 teams that signed a new player with a higher AAV than Bryant, (CAR, BAL, LVR, WAS, MIA, TEN, CIN, LAR, NE, CLE, NO, BUF, KC, SF, and NYG), only 4, BUF, SF, NE, and LAR had a winning record last year.

BUF signed Chubb, SF signed Evans, LAR signed Watson, and NE signed Doubs and Vera-Tucker. None of those are earth-shattering moves.

So I like the Bears approach so far. Safety was a gaping hole, and the filled one spot with an upgrade. Cutting Edmunds created another hole that was filled by Bush. Those are good moves and what I feel are low risk compared to moves in the past.

The draft seems deep with our needs as well. It will take developing, so expect some time but it should pay off years down the road. If we traded for Crosby, we would have had to rework more contracts pushing the expense in critical years to keep our best home grown talent.

This was the strategy I was hoping for. I’m not surprised they spent big on Safety but signing Bush at LB was not something I was expecting. Signing 2 good defensive players for the price of one mediocre DE is a win, or maybe even less than one mediocre DE. I also think Poles upgraded WR3/4 with Raymond over OZ.

3 minutes ago, AZ54 said:

This was the strategy I was hoping for. I’m not surprised they spent big on Safety but signing Bush at LB was not something I was expecting. Signing 2 good defensive players for the price of one mediocre DE is a win, or maybe even less than one mediocre DE. I also think Poles upgraded WR3/4 with Raymond over OZ.

Positional value vs cap hit. Safety and Off-ball LB are cheaper in free agency than other position groups. So you can get quality for a cheaper total cost.

Edge, WR, OT, and CB are the worst positions to spend on in free agency.

Could be a coincidence, but I would like to think it is part of the plan.

25 minutes ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

The draft seems deep with our needs as well. It will take developing, so expect some time but it should pay off years down the road. If we traded for Crosby, we would have had to rework more contracts pushing the expense in critical years to keep our best home grown talent.

Yeah, they can nail it if they can get a playmaker at Edge, DT, and Safety in this draft with 3 out of the 4 top picks.