No Offseason: Not Good? Maybe Not Even Better?

As predicted by a fearless ball knower, Ryan Poles and the Bears ate their vegetables during the first wave of free agency... kind of. If I can belabor the metaphor, they ate the frozen veggies that are still technically vegetables that they got from the Jewel freezer. They certainly didn’t go to Whole Foods and get some fresh produce.  

They were financially disciplined, if that’s how you want to label it. Signing players like Coby Bryant and Devin Bush to expensive but still largely modest contracts. They added Neville Gallimore for the NFL version of pocket change, brought back Braxton Jones on an incentive driven deal and several other spare parts for cheap. They stayed away from the Trey Hendrickson and Tyler Linderbaum bidding and refused to part with high-level assets for Maxx Crosby. They let fan favorites from the dream 2025 team go to other places for middle-class (NFL version) money. They certainly had a plan. But the question that remains mostly unanswered is... are they any better? 

One could argue that the fact that you have to even ask the question means that you have your answer. They certainly haven’t done anything to offer a resounding rebuttal to the regression conversation that is going to follow them for the entire 2026 season. Devin Bush is likely better than Tremaine Edmunds. That’s something. He’s definitely faster which was a point of emphasis according to Poles. Coby Bryant certainly offers more upside than Kevin Byard and is getting positive reviews.  

The reality is that they were 29^th in total defense last year. Arguing to keep any player from last year’s defense seems flimsy at best. For me at least, I’m not crying over losing Kevin Byard. Great season but the odds of it being replicated are very low. I’m not crying over Nahshon Wright. Nice story but I think everyone who was paying attention knew it was one of those Mark Bellhorn (non-steroid) weird one-hit wonder stories you see in sports. I’m certainly not crying over losing Jaquan Brisker, who is not a good player. If you don’t want to believe me, you can believe the other 31 teams in the NFL.  

There were eight safeties and eight cornerbacks in free agency who received contracts for two or more years and/or 10 or more million dollars. Byard, Wright and Brisker were not among them. That’s 16 defensive backs who were simply available that the league determined were more worth investing in, which obviously excludes the dozens of others under contract who are superior players. Sometimes it’s that simple. With the caveat that there is still a lot of offseason left the question still is, OK they got rid of guys who were overvalued by fans and media but did they actually get better? Again, if you have to ask...  

I wrote the following about potentially adding to the pass rush...  

Montez Sweat is good if not great; Austin Booker has shown flashes of being a real guy, Dayo Odeyingbo is still in the mix for better or worse, and Shemar Turner will contribute on the edge as well. Plus, it’s likely they will add another one in the draft. I would bet on them not signing any defensive end before I bet on them shelling out for Hendrickson. I do think they do something eventually but it could be closer to camp. Enough teams have seen that the mid-tier of free agent edges don’t deliver on the investment to avoid it. Just look at the Bears last year. 

Of all the things I wish I was wrong about.

With the understanding that Dayo Odeyingbo is certainly a cautionary tale and that free agent money is always an overpay, this is really the plan? Man.  

They added Neville Gallimore to the interior who had 3.5 sacks last year (half of his career total), nine pressures and four tackles for loss. Compare that to these numbers: 2.5 sacks, 18 pressures and nine tackles for loss. Who is that? Grady Jarrett’s last year in Atlanta. Significantly better. And I don’t need to explain that Jarrett’s addition did very little to help the line. So what is less than very little? That’s the expectation you can have for Gallimore. 

And that’s all that has been done to the defensive line. Sure, they have the draft. But what happens when Kayden McDonald or Zion Young or TJ Parker or Gabe Jacas or Lee Hunter isn’t immediately an All-Pro caliber player? Pretty much the same defensive line as last year. It’s just not nearly good enough. 

This whole thing has made me think a lot about Cubs President Jed Hoyer and why they have been largely irrelevant since he took over baseball operations. This is how they work. 

Don’t spend top dollar in free agency because there are flaws and risks with every player, sign lower-level players who are less risky but also less impactful. They get back pats for not being in the Trey Hendrickson mix because you’re too financially savvy to pursue a 31-year-old who played seven games last year (not entirely wrong thought process!) But then what is the actual on-field cost when Jordan Love and Jared Goff are picking you apart because they aren’t getting touched? Sure, Daniel Descalso has been retired for years, and Bryce Harper is on his way to the Hall of Fame and your team crumbled shortly afterwards... but you saved that money and that’s what truly matters.  

Next hype up your prospects (draft picks) as the ones who are going to come in and save the day. Don’t trade two firsts for Maxx Crosby (again, not indefensible at all!) but then don’t do anything and hope these non-elite picks turn into something elite. Sure, we had Andrew Kittredge starting playoff games, but getting Joe Ryan would have cost us our precious prospects. We didn’t get better in the moment in reality, but we got theoretically better in the future. What about Ryan Poles’ draft record, particularly on the defensive side of the ball makes anyone trust that he is going to land a gem when taking the 4^th or 5^th defensive lineman on the board? 

I was planning on doing the offensive side here too, but I’m getting heated talking about Jed Hoyer and I don’t think I have another 1,000 words on how betting on Rome Odunze despite him giving you zero reason to do so is probably a bad idea. Also, wouldn’t it be sick if you had an in-house left tackle that you used a third-round pick on ready to step in rather than drafting a guy because your head coach knew his dad? OK deep breath.