It’s Super Bowl week! The pre-game festivities have started in Miami. The Kansas City Chiefs and San Francisco 49ers are ready to go. And so are we, as NFL fans.
There are plenty of Chicago Bears connections in this game. Patrick Mahomes, and what could’ve been. Dave Toub. Matt Nagy’s mentor in Andy Reid. Robbie Gould. Raheem Mostert (apparently.)
You name it.
Unfortunately for the Bears (and their fans), they have to live this Super Bowl vicariously through these connections. I’ll have my prediction on Twitter on Friday. (If you missed it, my early prediction on Conference Championship Sunday was Chiefs 29, 49ers 27.)
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With that, we reach into this week’s Bears Mailbag. Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. I did not go too deep into many answers this week — I relied mostly on Twitter Q&A. I hope to get back into more in-depth stuff after the Super Bowl. In the meantime, enjoy, and follow me on Twitter @DhruvKoul to continue the conversation.
Mailbag
Remember that free agency winners do not always end up actual winners. The Bears have had pretty decent luck in free agency lately, though, and it’s certainly an avenue they’ll have to leverage as they look to re-tool their team for 2020.
They have a pretty healthy list of needs (starter(s) or depth pieces) — QB, TE, EDGE, ILB, CB, S, OL. And not a lot of salary cap room to get there right now — they’ll have to make some moves to officially open up cap room. (Think processing Kyle Long’s retirement, potentially cutting Prince Amukamara, negotiating a lower AAV extension with Leonard Floyd, etc.)
From a free agent perspective, pending any obvious moves like extensions and franchise tags, here are a list of intriguing FA targets I could see the Bears being interested in:
QB — Tom Brady, Marcus Mariota, Andy Dalton (if cut.)
TE — Hunter Henry, Austin Hooper, Eric Ebron.
EDGE — Markus Golden, Jadeveon Clowney, Jason Pierre-Paul.
ILB — Nick Kwiatkoski, Danny Trevathan, Kevin Pierre-Louis.
CB — (Already signed Tre Roberson), A.J. Bouye (if cut.)
S — Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, Eric Berry.
OL — Brandon Scherff, Graham Glasgow.
The Bears don’t have a choice but to add at least one QB in free agency, and it will be someone to compete with Mitch Trubisky. My first choice (other than Brady) is Mariota, but I have a feeling it will be Dalton.
The Bears will likely keep one of their own ILB free agents, but I don’t expect it to be a splash. I’d imagine they push to keep Kwiatkoski most, given he’s a Bears’ draft pick, younger, and very good.
The splash I’d like to see is at EDGE — I’d like for them to invest in another, bona fide pass rusher opposite Khalil Mack. Golden was one of my favorite sleepers last offseason, and I’d love it if the Bears signed him this year. But if they want to make a conference-altering shift, sign Clowney. He and Mack together can almost be considered premeditated murder. (Note — this is an exaggeration, to anyone who would think I’m saying this literally.)
Good question. There are plenty of them. A few that come to mind, and keep in mind this doesn’t include existing starters that could be had via trade (e.g. Derek Carr), or impending free agents (e.g. Marcus Mariota):
Josh Rosen — I’ve been a huge fan of his since he came out, and he’s gotten the shaft in both situations he’s been in since he entered the league. He had no infrastructure in Arizona, and arguably even less infrastructure in Miami. Not to mention, no help. Watch his tape against Dallas from this year — he was EXCEPTIONAL. But his numbers sucked because no one could catch the ball. Rosen is smart, accurate, mechanically very sound, and has a good arm. He’d definitely be worth a gamble.
Nick Foles — This is an easy one. Got benched for Gardner Minshew in Jacksonville. RPO guru. Super Bowl MVP in Doug Pederson’s system (similar to Matt Nagy’s.) Other than his contract situation, there isn’t a better fit.
Robert Griffin III — Surprised? You shouldn’t be. He’s buried behind Lamar Jackson in Baltimore right now. He can easily run Matt Nagy’s system.
Chad Kelly — I’ve been a fan of Chad Kelly’s for a while. His talent screams Jay Cutler, but his issues off the field have precluded him from really taking off in the NFL. It’s unfortunate, but I’d love to see him get a shot.
Other unheralded names that intrigue me a bit on tape: Nate Sudfeld and Trevor Siemian.
