NEWSLETTER
It’s Friday and we have officially made it through the first wave of free-agency signings. Let’s give ourselves a round of applause for making it to this point. Moving forward, we’ll start to see signings that will help teams inch toward filling their 90-player rosters.
Or in the case of this Chicago Bears transaction, a re-signing:
https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears/status/1106595559232688133
The Bears announced the re-signing of defensive tackle Nick Williams to a one-year contract. Williams, 29, appeared in just two games, collected two tackles and one tackle-for-loss during his brief time on the field. There wasn’t much for Williams as he played on just 44 total snaps, but it’s always nice to have depth in the form of a familiar face.
As of now, the Bears’ reserve defensive linemen behind Akiem Hicks, Eddie Goldman, Bilal Nichols, Roy Robertson-Harris, and Jonathan Bullard are Williams and Abdullah Anderson. While this position group is loaded, you can never have enough healthy, able-bodied defenders competing at the line of scrimmage. We’ll keep an eye out to see if the Bears bring in any more of those types of players or will wait until after the draft to scoop up an undrafted free agent to add to this collection.
Williams joins right tackle Bobby Massie and tight end Ben Braunecker as the third Bears free agent to re-sign with the team. Meanwhile, cornerback Bryce Callahan, punter Pat O’Donnell, edge defender Aaron Lynch, running back Benny Cunningham, tight end Daniel Brown, guard Bryan Witzmann, cornerback Marcus Williams, and fullback Michael Burton are the eight Bears unrestricted free agents who have yet to re-sign with the team or with another NFL franchise.
The Bears still don’t have a punter and could use depth at outside linebacker or in the secondary, so it’s possible we could see any number of these players back in the fold as free agency continues.
