Six bargain free agent fits for Chicago Bears on defensive line
The fit and cost play big roles in any free agent signing and the Bears can find some on defense whose cash and talent type matches their needs.
So much of free agency is finding players at lower cost and squeezing out productivity, or finding those who are beginning to peak.
More than anything, it’s finding the right fit.
Bringing cap cut free agent Joey Bosa to the Chicago area makes so much sense from a logistics standpoint for the Bears compared to some of the other edge rusher options being discussed that it’s almost comical.
Besides talent, it makes sense on a familiarity front since Bosa is the great-grandson of the late and former leader of the Chicago “outfit,” Tony “The Big Tuna” Accardo. The Chicago outfit is not a band or something—think Tony Soprano.
There’s more in Bosa’s blood than former mob bosses, as he has football/family ties from the area. His uncle is Eric Kumerow, a former Bear and Dolphin. His great uncle was Mike Pyle, the famed Bears center of the 1960s. His cousin is Jake Kumerow, former Packers/Bengals/Patriots receiver.
Bosa is a good enough pass rusher to balance out the Bears front as a five-time Pro Bowl player and 2016 defensive rookie of the year.
The entire problem with Bosa becomes price and health.
He’s 29 and for several years could still be effective, but he has missed 23 games in the last three years, 28 in the last five and 51 for his career due to injuries. An unselfish player, he took a pay cut last year to stay with the Chargers and play with Khalil Mack but the Chargers couldn’t continue the cycle of injuries at a high rate so they let him go. They might even be able to pay and keep Khalil Mack now with Bosa gone.
At 6-5, 280, Bosa is an exact fit for the scheme of Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen’s, which had a 280-pounder on one edge and a 260-pounder on the other side for the last seven years in New Orleans.
