CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – OCTOBER 13: Daron Payne #94 of the Washington Commanders celebrates a sack during the first quarter against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field on October 13, 2022 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images)
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It feels like yesterday when the Chicago Bears defensive line was led by Khalil Mack, Akiem Hicks, Eddie Goldman and Robert Quinn. The unit was the driving force of the team.
Now, the Bears defensive line has arguably reached its all time lowest point. Their entire rotation only generated a meager 127 pressures (according to PFF). For reference, Max Crosby generated 108 on his own in 2021.
Having the 1st overall pick in a draft class that contains 2 generational defensive line prospects is very fortunate for the Bears. However, one player isn’t going to fix this mess.
The Chicago Bears need to spend wisely on the defensive line.
The Bears need to make much of their headway on their defensive front in free agency. While this isn’t a great free agency class as a whole, it’s pretty good on the d line.
In hopes that Ryan Poles doesn’t go full Jaguars mode and throw money at any defensive lineman that breathes, I went through and picked out 5 guys I would target.
$119 million in cap space definitely gives them some margin for error, but the goal should always be to extract the most value as possible.
As a disclaimer for the guys I have chosen, I will not focus much on sacks because I believe we are past using sacks as the measuring stick. There are much more effective ways to evaluate production that I go into detail about in my analysis.
I will stop beating around the bush and jump right into this thing. Here are the top 5 defensive linemen the Bears should pursue in free agency.
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