Big Spending Bears

Even the staunchest Justin Fields' critics have come around on his future under center for the Bears after an explosive stretch that started in Foxborough. However, there is no denying this new budding superstar needs more help. While the trade for Chase Claypool was a start, it only gives Fields two actual NFL caliber wide receivers. The next step is obvious for general manager Ryan Poles and has precedent for young quarterbacks around the league.

Just this season we've seen the impact a proven play maker can have on a young QB with Tyreek Hill being shipped to Miami to help Tua Tagovailoa. Josh Allen, whose early career numbers are quite comparable to Fields', took off to the moon once the Bills added Stefon Diggs. It's obvious, but giving your young QB a number option allows for a bailout player and less of a need to be perfect. They tilt the field and put everyone in a role that fits them better.

General Manager Ryan Poles will have the most cap space in the league and eight draft picks to quickly up the talent on the roster and around Fields, including a probable top five pick. While adding a number one receiver is goal one and two, the free agent market is far from impressive. Speculation behind the Claypool trade points to this and the ability to get a young, cost controlled WR. While the WR room could use just about anything for a boost, Jakobi Meyers, Allen Lazard and JuJu Smith-Schuster are not exactly what the Bears are looking for.

Twitter has been all about the speculation that the Bengals could put Tee Higgins on the market ahead of a payday with Joe Burrow and Ja'Marr Chase set to get big raises. While not a bonafide number one, Higgins joining Claypool and Darnell Mooney is light years ahead of what the season started with for 2022. It's also worth noting Cole Kmet has come on during Fields' offensive explosion. He looks like the answer at TE while the Bears have a solid collection of running backs, though David Montgomery is an impending free agent.

If Chicago has to use trade capital to add a top receiver then what do they spend their massive cap space on? Any, or multiples, of Orlando Brown, Jack Conklin, Mitch Morse, Dalton Risner or Elgton Jenkins would be a massive improvement to a young offensive line. While Teven Jenkins, Larry Borom and Braxton Jones are young pieces, and have started to improve, there is room for upgrades and protecting Fields is right behind getting better pass catchers. Much like a number one receiver bumps down the pecking order for everyone else to a better fitting role, a stud offensive lineman does exactly the same thing. Upgrading the line helps those younger players while also allowing one or two of them to season a little more as depth offensive lineman. The Bears have their QB, protect him and give him time to hit his new array of weapons.

Ryan Poles has seemingly retooled the secondary in the past draft with Jaquan Brisker and Kyler Gordon joining Eddie Jackson and Jaylon Johnson, but the front seven needs a big boost; especially after Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn were shipped out. There are a few young linebackers, though we'll see if they actually hit the market; Devin Bush and Tremaine Edmunds would be easy picks. Jack Sanborn has come on though, much like some of the offensive linemen, and looks like a diamond in the rough.

On the defensive line there are older veterans but that's not something that should dissuade the Bears as a boost in depth would be needed. Both the run defense and pass rush needs upgrades. Fletcher Cox, Larry Ogunjobi and Yannick Ngakoue are a few names to consider. The Bears currently have the 2nd overall pick and, with a loaded QB rookie class and teams in need, the dream would be to trade down and stock up more picks for this and next draft, though taking one of the defensive studs will be tempting.

Mock drafts have Will Anderson, Jalen Carter, Myles Murphy, Jared Verse and Bryan Breese as top 10 picks. Anderson or Carter are the dream picks with a potential run on signal callers. I'd expect free agency and the first round pick to be used to add a lot more bite to the pass rush, though there are a lot of talented first round wide receivers that'll be tough to pass up depending on what happens in the off season.

The mulligan on the lack of offensive talent added for 2022 season only stands if the Claypool addition was just the beginning. With the cap space and Fields' success it'd be easy to throw A money at B free agents but I believe Poles demonstrated with his in season trades that he has the vision to not get reckless. Roquan Smith was deemed not worth the contract he was asking for while other general managers might have felt the need to pay out, but he instead made the right move and got draft picks for him. This Bears team will be vastly different next season and much more competitive with a bright now and future.