Predicting the Winners of the Most Important Bears Position Battles

Jaye Howard vs. Mitch Unrein

The Bears were wise to sign free agent Jaye Howard. Depth up front is often critical to the success of a defense. They didn’t really have it in 2016. Now they do. Regarding who will start alongside Akiem Hicks and Eddie Goldman is the more interesting question. Veteran Mitch Unrein appeared to hold that job with second-year man Jonathan Bullard his primary competition. That changed when Howard arrived.

In 2015 when he was healthy, Howard was one of the better 3-4 defensive ends in the league. Solid against the run and producing 5.5 sacks. Last year health got in the way. Hence why the Bears signed him to an incentive-laden contract.

Winner:  Jaye Howard

The fact is he’s just better than Unrein at both key roles. He was a higher rated run defender when healthy and proved he’s easily a more productive pass rusher. Throw in the fact that Unrein is pushing into his 30s and nothing short of another injury will likely stop Howard from claiming that third starting spot.