The Bears made one splashy move at the outset of free agency, signing defensive lineman Larry Ogunjobi to a big three-year deal.
And while their next move might be to address offensive line needs, it won’t be with Brian Allen. The free agent center, who made sense as a Bears target, is sticking with the Rams:
Brian Allen returning to the Rams on a three-year, $24 million deal, per source.
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 14, 2022
A three-year deal worth $24 million is just about where we were guessing the market was going for interior offensive linemen. Especially after seeing Ben Jones re-up with the Titans at 2/$14M and the Bengals bring in Ted Karras for 3/$18M. Nevertheless, seeing the center market thin out is a concern when you consider the Bears’ current offensive line situation.
With all due respect to Sam Mustipher and his superb taste in excellent Chicago style pizza, it was a down year for the Notre Dame product. And the Bears should be looking at upgrading at that spot and throughout the offensive line. I suppose they still could, but not reeling in a target like Allen makes you wonder where else the Bears could be targeting moves along the line. Even still … that brings me back to missed opportunities elsewhere to address those issues.
Thankfully, we’re still early in the free agency period. So, it’s not as if there isn’t time to bulk up up front and shore up spots elsewhere. But dang, seeing good fits go elsewhere for reasonable contracts stings.