Bears NFL's Top 100 FA Signings

[adam]

At the start of Free Agency, NFL.com listed their top 100 FAs. After the Yannick signing, here is what Poles did (w/ 2023 Cap hits):

27. Tremaine Edmunds ($14.6M)
34. Yannick Ngakoue ($10.5M)
44. Nate Davis (6.9M)
59. TJ Edwards ($5M)
89. Robert Tonyan ($2.6M)

Also signed Demarcus Walker ($6.4M), D'onta Foreman ($2M), Andrew Billings ($2.7M), Travis Homer ($1.7M), Rasheem Green ($2.4M), Dylan Cole ($1M), and Terrell Lewis ($1M) who all should contribute. That's 12 players for $56M.

Drafted: Darnell Wright, Tyrique Stevenson, Gervon Dexter, Zacch Pickens, Tyler Scott, Roschon Johnson, Terrell Smith, and Kendall Williamson.

Then acquired DJ Moore via trade.

That is 21 new players that should see significant snaps, and more than likely 9 starters (out of 22) from this group (Moore, Edmunds, Edwards, Ngakoue, Davis, Walker, Wright, Stevenson, Dexter/Billings).

The other 13 are Fields, Mooney, Claypool, Kmet, Jones, Jenkins, Whitehair, Herbert, Jones, Sanborn/Gordon, Johnson, Brisker, and Jackson.

So who is the worst starter on offense and defense? On offense, Nate Davis? On defense, Justin Jones?

 

If for some reason the Bears wanted to clear more cap, they could cut Patrick and save $3.9M (possible), or Vildor and save $2.7M. Those seem like fairly high cap savings for the amount of snaps those guys will see. 

The Bears are now at $17.7M in cap space (8th in NFL), that $6.6M would bump them back to $24.3M (2nd). It is still crazy to think Poles did all of that and still has the 8th most cap available which he can roll over to 2024 if he wants to.

[Stinger226]

Maybe Vildor but I dont see Patrick going anywhere. He did not pan out his first yr but the tape is still there for why Poles wanted him. Plus backup OC and can play either OG position. Poles stays steady with not handing out contracts that kill us down the road. He is putting draft picks out there and fills in with vet depth. I think we will look back on this year and have added 10 core players.

[adam]

20 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

Maybe Vildor but I dont see Patrick going anywhere. He did not pan out his first yr but the tape is still there for why Poles wanted him. Plus backup OC and can play either OG position. Poles stays steady with not handing out contracts that kill us down the road. He is putting draft picks out there and fills in with vet depth. I think we will look back on this year and have added 10 core players.

Yeah, I assume Patrick is safe because of the Getsy connection, but they also have Doug Kramer, who was a 6th rounder last year. In a backup role, is Kramer + $3.9M more valuable than Patrick?

I think Vildor or Gipson could also be cap casualties as they can get the same production from vet minimum guys and save $2.7M each. 

[Stinger226]

I think the narrative has changed for Poles, yes, he is building a team but I think his rebuild has accelerated with the talent he has been able to assembly. There will be some injuries on the OL over the coming season. Is it better to have a vet or turn to a young player for development ? If he thinks we can win now, I think he stays with his best option and not worried about saving on the salary cap. We have enough to get thru this year. I think he still could add a vet OT instead of Borom or Leatherwood being an option, inside is in good shape but OTs are weak in depth.