At some point during the wee hours of this morning, I found myself in the Orlando airport wondering out loud if the Bears would find a linebacker to give a big chunk of change to in free agency. It turns out that they found two of them. First, it was T.J. Edwards getting the ball rolling on the Bears’ free agency adventure. And now, NFL Network insider Ian Rapoport reports that Tremaine Edmunds is joining the party:
And with that the Bears have upgraded their front seven in a big way by signing a pair of linebackers. Not quite what I was expecting, but I’m all for making a weak position group better. And that is what GM Ryan Poles has done with a second major cash investment at the linebacker position. Edmunds getting $50 million in guarantees on a deal worth up to $72 million is eye-popping.
Edmonds gets $18 million per year, which is just about what Roquan Smith was probably looking at in an offer from the Bears. Roquan eventually got $20 million per season from the Ravens. And the Bears ultimately got a different type of off-the-ball linebacker. One I hope fits right in with what Matt Eberflus and Alan Williams plan on doing on the defensive side of the ball.
So it wasn’t that the Bears didn’t necessarily devalue the off-ball linebacker position. Instead, it was more about the player and/or fit. It is a bold strategy, but one I find to be interesting.
I remember Edmunds being seen as an ideal fit for the Bears before the 2018 NFL Draft. He was even once compared to Brian Urlacher. I lost count of how many mock drafts sent Edmunds to Chicago. Fast forward to 2023 and we’ll get a chance to see the fit first hand. Pretty wild.