2026 Chicago Bears Offseason Thread

[Wilson A2000]

11 minutes ago, MidoreX said:

A 5th next year is a pretty small price to pay, and it's because he's not all that good... And he's old. 

But he's a veteran body. I think they wanted to ensure they had SOMEONE to man the position as a fallback. Also allows them to potentially draft a C and give them someone to learn from

Bradbury 30/40 PFF grade at Center

[WrigleyField 22]

2 hours ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Bradbury 30/40 PFF grade at Center

I think the optimistic view is he'll be a better outside zone fit for Chicago's scheme. 

Ben knocked it out on OL last year. I trust. 

Edited March 7 by WrigleyField 22

[NorthsideAvenger]

Any chance Bradbury is simply a Ryan Bates replacement?

[Banedon]

13 minutes ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

Any chance Bradbury is simply a Ryan Bates replacement?

Sure there's a chance.

[Bobson Dugnutt]

Crosby to Baltimore

[Wilson A2000]

1 hour ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

I think the optimistic view is he'll be a better outside zone fit for Chicago's theme. 

Ben knocked it out on OL last year. I trust. 

If he does that and the Bears fill some holes at LT and DE, it’s a good move

[Wilson A2000]

Can’t really blame Poles for not doing that

[Rex Buckingham]

1 hour ago, Wilson A2000 said:

Can’t really blame Poles for not doing that

Couldn't compete if he wanted to. #14 this year is a much better chip than 25, even if you expect the Bears 2027 pick to be more valuable

Edited March 7 by Rex Buckingham

[We Got The Whole 9]

I can't believe they chose that over signing Hendrickson for 2 years and no picks

[NorthsideAvenger]

.I think Hendrickson is going to price himself out of the Bears range. I think Mack is going to end up in Seattle. I don't want another Dayo but I am intrigued about who the Bears are looking at right now. 

Edited March 7 by NorthsideAvenger

[Banedon]

I'm ok with not paying that price.

[NorthsideAvenger]

So there are a few Bears fans that are ready to write off the 2026 season because of Dalman's retirement and Trapillo's injury. SMH. 

[WrigleyField 22]

8 hours ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

So there are a few Bears fans that are ready to write off the 2026 season because of Dalman's retirement and Trapillo's injury. SMH. 

People are weird. 

 

Not to say Bears are some sure thing, but the line they have today and Caleb+Loveland+Rome+Odunze is enough to kero things interesting next year no matter what.  And they still have 3 picks from 25-60, plus FA. 

[Geographyhater8888]

On 3/7/2026 at 6:52 AM, WrigleyField 22 said:

People are weird. 

 

Not to say Bears are some sure thing, but the line they have today and Caleb+Loveland+Rome+Odunze is enough to kero things interesting next year no matter what.  And they still have 3 picks from 25-60, plus FA. 

Much of it depends on Calebs year 3 growth. It just sucks that the division is so tough. No free rides to the playoffs like for Mahomes previously or Allen. Teams with high level quarterback play are always in the playoff mix though.
 

 

Edited March 8 by Geographyhater8888

[Geographyhater8888]

The Bears have zero future blue chip defenders and they haven’t drafted a defender in the first round since Roquan in 2018.

They need an influx of young talent badly. The good news is if they hit on their picks they’ll be in great shape with the cap when it’s time to pay Caleb. 

[BigSlick]

Obviously nothing is guaranteed but the Bears are very squarely in their window right now. Let the official offseason actually begin and let them go through FA and the draft.

There's no way the defense is worse than last year, and despite the Dalman loss, I don't see the offense regressing either. As long as they avoid the injury bug (always a concern) they're part of the class of the NFC. 

[WrigleyField 22]

5 hours ago, BigSlick said:

Obviously nothing is guaranteed but the Bears are very squarely in their window right now. Let the official offseason actually begin and let them go through FA and the draft.

There's no way the defense is worse than last year, and despite the Dalman loss, I don't see the offense regressing either. As long as they avoid the injury bug (always a concern) they're part of the class of the NFC. 

Windows aren't real

The defense could easily be worse 

[NorthsideAvenger]

Thank you Ravens. 

[Old Style]

Mack re-signs with the Chargers for 1-year $18MM. 

[Geographyhater8888]

10 hours ago, Old Style said:

Mack re-signs with the Chargers for 1-year $18MM. 

Taylor Decker or Cam Jordan I can live with. I think it’ll be a transition year where they’ll stockpile picks to infuse an aging and expensive core with future replacements in the draft. 
It’s an odd pivot from offering Vegas 2 1’s for Crosby. 

[Geographyhater8888]

16 hours ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

Windows aren't real

The defense could easily be worse 

Mahomes was the last qb to win on a rookie contract back in 2019-2020. I agree. If they hit on their picks on defense they can easily build a championship team when Caleb gets paid. Hurts just won after getting a max deal because Baum, Smith, Laitia, Carter, Sweat and Dejean (Too lazy to find find the correct spelling) were all on rookie contracts.. Cheap star talent on either side of the ball is the ticket. 

Edited March 8 by Geographyhater8888

[Soul]

I’m glad we didn’t do 2 1st rounders for him.  That does seem to be the standard price to pay for top tier at that position.  Let’s see what we can do elsewhere.  It would be nice to shore up the interior DL because stopping the run was also an issue.  We were 27th.  Broncos and Seahawks were 2nd and 3rd.

[WrigleyField 22]

21 minutes ago, Geographyhater8888 said:

Mahomes was the last qb to win on a rookie contract back in 2019-2020. I agree. If they hit on their picks on defense they can easily build a championship team when Caleb gets paid. Hurts just won after getting a max deal because Baum, Smith, Laitia, Carter, Sweat and Dejean (Too lazy to find find the correct spelling) were all on rookie contracts.. Cheap star talent on either side of the ball is the ticket. 

It's very weird. I think I was an early observer of the rookie scale QB phenomenon. But once it took off people treated it with gospel and it's become so overrated. 

 

It was always an arguement against exclusion. But it's shoehorned back to an exclusionary arguement the other way now. 

[Geographyhater8888]

1 hour ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

It's very weird. I think I was an early observer of the rookie scale QB phenomenon. But once it took off people treated it with gospel and it's become so overrated. 

 

It was always an arguement against exclusion. But it's shoehorned back to an exclusionary arguement the other way now. 

It’s a big advantage, so is Will Witherspoon and JSN’s $5> million cap hits. It was more of a phenomenon back in the 2000’s when teams valued running backs while the league was still transitioning into becoming pass friendly. The rookie contracts were longer in length where you had an extra couple years to build up your roster with more cracks at a Super Bowl. Intentional “rebuilds” weren’t as common either. Philip Rivers is a Raider instead of Robert Gallery if teams valued quarterbacks back then like they do today. He wouldn’t have won horsefeathers (he didn’t) but neither would Big Ben/Eli in Arizona.

It’s more of a phenomenon for Super Bowl runner ups than anything over the last decade plus. It’s been exaggerated a lot with how different the process of drafting is today from 20 years ago.
 

We can disregard Brady’s pay cuts which aren’t a realistic blue print to follow. I wonder how many less rings he’d have If he was paid according to the market.

Edited March 8 by Geographyhater8888

[BigbadB]

This cat they traded for at C has a PFF rating of 30th out of 44 Centers. But he gave up zero sacks in 624 pass play snaps. I don't know how a guy would grade out 30th out of 32 starters with zero sacks given up, but I'm going to trust the decision makers don't put much stock in PFF grades.