The NFL free agency period still has some time remaining, but that won’t stop pundits from diving into the nitty-gritty of contract details.
Unfortunately for the Chicago Bears, things haven’t shaped up as you might like in free agency. Well, at least not yet. At least to one pundit.
Around The NFL editor Gregg Rosenthal sorts through the best and worst contracts that have been handed out during this early wave of free agency, and the Bears are featured in a category that no team wants to be in.
Especially for a team that has as much cap space and as many needs as the Bears had going into the offseason.
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Rosenthal lists Markus Wheaton’s two-year contract (which features $5 million in guarantees) as one of the nine worst contracts signed this offseason. From his perspective, the Wheaton deal feels like one of those moves made by a team that knew it had a lot of money to spend and was determined to spend it at a position of need – no matter the player.
To be sure, Wheaton might fit the bill here, especially when considering that he received a similar contract to Brandon Marshall (a superior player, albeit one with baggage, and seven years older) and slightly less money than what Terrelle Pryor received from Washington after he secured a 1,000-yard receiving year for Cleveland.
Wheaton is a player with some upside because of his ability to stretch the field vertically with his speed, but did so in an offense that gave him ample operating room with defenses focusing on quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, wide receiver Antonio Brown, and running back Le’Veon Bell.
The Bears’ signing of tight end Dion Sims also comes under scrutiny, even if it’s not among the nine selected worst deals. After all, the team committed $6 million in guarantees on a three-year deal that could pay up to $18 million to pry a blocking-first tight end away from the Miami Dolphins. For their part, the Bears hope Sims, 26, can become more than that.
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We might not ever (let alone right now) know the full scope of general manager Ryan Pace’s offseason plans, especially with regards to the sizable cap space the team had going into the 2017 league year. But we might have a general idea of the direction. Even still, it appears as if the Bears are destined to spend big, despite missing out on a chance to retain Alshon Jeffery and to bring in cornerback Stephon Gilmore. They’ll just be spending big on short-term deals.
Spending big in free agency will always have its risks. And while these signings weren’t likely what the team (or its fans) had in mind when free agency opened up, the short-term nature of these deals leaves the Bears with some wiggle room to spend big again as soon as next year without damaging the long-term cap situation.
That’s the bright side to an otherwise questionable start to the free agency period.