Fresh off the haul from the Panthers on Friday for the overall number one pick, the Bears rolled into free agency with some momentum; they kept it going on Monday. The Bears were busy little bees locking up some guys that are going to make this team a whole heck of a lot better next year.
The first domino to fall was at the linebacker position. His name is TJ Edwards. He’s been in the league for 3 years with the Philadelphia Eagles. He’s recorded at least 130 tackles in each of the past 2 years. He hails from Villa Park, IL, only about an hour drive north of here, just before the Wisconsin border. I never heard of him before today, but I already like him. This was an area of need for the Bears no doubt, especially after the departure of Roquan Smith. Adding TJ was a start. What came next was a “finish”? The Bears also signed LB Tremaine Edmunds from the Buffalo Bills; I have heard of him. I absolutely love this signing. This dude is a stud from what I can tell. He’s had more than 100 tackles in each of his 5 seasons in the league, making the Pro Bowl in both 2019 and 2020. Couple other things that I like about these guys: they’re young and they have postseason experience. TJ is 26 and Tremaine is 24. The Eagles were in the Super Bowl about a month ago, and the Bills have been in the postseason regularly. We can only hope the addition of these 2 guys will help equal postseason games for the Bears in the near future.
Am I feeling better about the Roquan Smith trade now? A little bit. Of course, I need to see these two guys play game in game out to see how good they really are, but I saw something on Twitter from The Irish Bears Show: the fact that Roquan is making $20M/year, and these guys, along with Jack Sanborn who showed some promise and was a college teammate of TJ, make a combined $25M/year, plus the 2nd round draft pick… I definitely feel a little better. I still think Roquan is a great player; I still think he should still be here. I’m warming up to the alternative, waiting to fully embrace it during the season.
The Bears weren’t done yet either. They scooped up Nate Davis from the Titans to play the Guard position; the more offensive line help we can get, the better. Then finally, we added someone on the defensive side of that trench with DE DeMarcus Walker, from the Titans as well. Adding to the trenches should be priority #1 IMO; good start here, more to come. I imagine this will be addressed via the draft as well.
Whew… OK, great few days for the Bears; I’m feeling that mojo rising for sure. The memory of last year’s 3 win season is getting washed away, and they’re not done yet. Still money to spend, still all those draft picks to use, how much better will the Bears be next season? We’ll be better than last year, but that’s not saying much. Double the win total with 6? Are we going to flirt with 500 and the playoffs? The sky is the limit at this point. For now, let’s just continue to watch Ryan Poles do his thing; so far so good… Bear Down!!!
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