Chicago Bears Offseason Needs: Offensive line, wide receiver musts for Bears
The Chicago Bears are in a difficult position entering the 2022 offseason. The team is entering with a new regime after parting way with Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace. The new front office of Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus have their hands full and hopefully will have the time they need to correct the mess that has been the Chicago Bears the last couple of seasons.
The priority will be building around Justin Fields. The team invested in adding Fields last year and while that was a different group that made the moves, the new group will be tasked with making it work. That will include protecting Fields as well as getting weapons around him.
What will make this process even more difficult for Poles and Eberflus is the lack of assets from the move to get Fields. Luckily, the dent won’t go beyond this season, but it’s still going to take away the first and fourth round picks for the Bears this season. Those assets will be tough to lose during the 2022 NFL Draft, which has been credited with being a heavy offensive line and wide receiver class, two of the team’s biggest needs for this team.
So, with that being said, what are the needs of the Chicago Bears moving forward? What will Poles and Eberflus need to emphasis this offseason? The changes won’t happen overnight and won’t even all happen this offseason, but they need to start somewhere. This is going to be a multiple-season project, but Chicago needs to lay the foundation this offseason.
That foundation is going to begin with setting Fields up for success. Whatever the front office believes to be the biggest needs for him to succeed will be where the emphasis falls this offseason in starting the rebuild process. It won’t fix all the problems of the Bears, but it will at least get the franchise into a better spot next year at this time.
Chicago Bears Offseason Needs: Offensive Line
The main priority for the Chicago Bears this offseason needs to be to keep Justin Fields upright. During the 2021 season, the Bears allowed the most sacks in the NFL, seeing the quarterback sacked 58 times. No matter who the quarterback is, that can’t happen. However, allowing that to happen to a young quarterback could be detrimental to the development of not only the QB, but the entire offense.
The good news is that Chicago has a chance to reform more than half of this offensive line. Both starting tackles, Jason Peters and Germain Ifedi are set to become free agents, as is guard James Daniels. Teven Jenkins, a 2021 second round pick for the Bears, can take over one of the tackle spots, that still leaves two more starting offensive line positions for the Bears to figure out.
Daniels, a 2018 second round pick, is only 24-years old, so Chicago would be wise to bring him back. As for the other position, it wouldn’t hurt to bring in a proven veteran to this unit. It might be a bit costly in free agency, but there needs to be more experience added to the line. Having young players to grow with Fields is great, but having talent and experience in place to allow Fields to grow in the first place is more important.
Chicago Bears Offseason Needs: Wide Receivers
If Justin Fields is going to grow as a passer in the NFL, he needs players to pass the ball to. During the 2021 season, the Chicago Bears ranked 25th in the league for receiving yards and 29th for receiving touchdowns. They were also 29th for receptions of 20-yards or more with just 40 over the course of the 17-game season.
To make matters worse, the position is going to see a hit this offseason. Allen Robinson, Jakeem Grant, Marquise Goodwin and Damiere Byrd are all set to become free agents. That leaves just Darnell Mooney, Dazz Newsome, Isaiah Coulter and Nsimba Webster left.
The good news is that the four returners combine for just over $3.58 million. That should leave the Bears plenty of cap space to go after a wide receiver or two in free agency as well as adding through the 2022 NFL Draft.
For a young quarterback, having a reliable veteran receiver can be a great asset. Would Amari Cooper come to Chicago? Maybe not. Could they throw a lot of money at Chris Godwin or Mike Williams to try and get an improvement at the position? Of course.
That doesn’t include a very deep wide receiver class that should see first round talents fall into the second round. If there’s an offseason to need wide receivers, this might be one of the better years to have it on the list.
Chicago Bears Offseason Needs: Secondary
It was a bit of an odd season for the Chicago Bears secondary. They finished third in the league for passing yards allowed, giving up just 3,257 passing yards on the year. However, they lacked the ability to create turnovers, finishing 29th for interceptions with just eight as a team. In fact, the Bears lacked the ability to make a play on the ball in general, finishing 30th for passes defended with just 53.
The Bears also tied for the third-most receiving touchdowns allowed on the year, giving up 31 scores through the air. The cherry on top is that Chicago allowed the fewest passing attempts in the league during the 2021 season.
Now, you could take that as teams preferred to run the ball against Chicago, so maybe that’s where the emphasis should be. However, it can also be taken as the fact that the Bears were tied for the third-most passing touchdowns allowed while seeing the fewest pass attempts against them. Opposing teams didn’t have a need to throw all over the Chicago defense, but when they did throw the Bears struggled to make a play on the ball and keep it out of the end zone.
What Chicago needs to address in the secondary is two things. They need a ball hawk to either intercept or knock down the ball and they need players who can stop touchdowns from happening so often. They can either pay up and try and get it all in one or go the Moneyball route and try to piece it all together with multiple players. Regardless, it needs to happen this offseason in some form.
Chicago Bears Offseason Needs: Tight Ends
Any young quarterback needs at least one athletic and productive tight end. It provides a great safety net underneath to look towards and a big red zone target to lean on. In the case of the Chicago Bears, the 2022 tight end room currently consists of Cole Kmet.
Now, no disrespect to Kmet. He’s yet to miss an NFL game over two seasons, but he only has two touchdowns. That role could very well grow with both Jimmy Graham and Jesse James set to enter free agency this offseason, but the Bears are going to need more players at this position.
Unlike the other positions mentioned so far, tight end isn’t an absolute must have for Chicago this offseason. Kmet can hold down the fort. The reason it’s on this list is purely depth. Kmet can’t be the only tight end on the roster, so when talking about needs this is something Chicago will need to address.
It can be a simple and cheap veteran signing or a late round draft pick, but the team just needs more tight ends before the start of next season. This will be a very affordable and easy-to-address need, but it’s a need nonetheless. This is one the Chicago Bears should be able to check off rather easily.
Chicago Bears Offseason Needs: Defensive Line
The Chicago Bears run defense was pretty much middle of the road during the 2021 season. They weren’t great, but they weren’t terrible, at least statistically. Even the pass rush was effective, finishing fourth in the league for sacks with 49, trailing only the Pittsburgh Steelers (55), Minnesota Vikings (51) and Los Angeles Rams (50).
The only real reason that defensive line is on this list is because of what could result from free agency. The defensive line is really only set to lose Akiem Hicks and Bilal Nichols, but the problem is that both of those players were starters for Chicago this past season.
Losing one would be something the Bears could make adjustments for and overcome, but losing both in the same offseason could completely shift the tide of this defensive line. Whether it be bringing Hicks and/or Nichols back or looking to new talent, Chicago needs to have a plan for how to address the defensive line, because moving forward without Hicks, Nichols or any ready-to-start talent to replace them could tremendously damage this defense.
Of the two, Nichols makes the most sense to bring back. He’s young and has been more reliable in terms of staying on the field. If Chicago can bring back Nichols and find a new player to replace Hicks, that might be their best option.