How The Chicago Bears Are Finally Winning Free Agency The Right Way
The Chicago Bears are getting a lot of heat from their fans over what they’ve done in free agency so far. Several key players have left for jobs elsewhere, including Kevin Byard, Jaquan Brisker, and Nahshon Wright. Tremaine Edmunds was cut. D.J. Moore was traded. All the while, Bears general manager Ryan Poles has conducted a free agency period that hasn’t been big on splash moves. Only three multi-year contracts were handed out. None of them were top-of-the-market deals.
Safety Coby Bryant took a deal worth $13.33 million per year, which is outside the top 10. Linebacker Devin Bush got $10 million per year, which is barely inside the top 20. Everybody else is receiving modest contracts or outright backup money. Fans believe the organization is being cheap. They finally made the playoffs last season and were one drive away from the NFC Championship. This should be the time to be aggressive. Yet Poles has remained steadfast in his approach.
Is he making a mistake?
The Chicago Bears are finally doing free agency right.
Other general managers have said they only want to use the veteran market as a way to fill needs so they can take the best player available in the draft. Most of them ended up lying because they started taking huge swings in free agency when it became clear their drafting wasn’t good enough. Poles is the first one to mostly stand by that promise, never throwing out market-busting deals. The data says his fiscally responsible approach is correct. Just look at the biggest spenders in free agency from between 2015 and 2022 and how things fared for them in the immediate few seasons afterwards.
| Spree Year | Team | Total Spent (Outside Additions) | 3-Year Total Record | Super Bowl Win? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | Jacksonville Jaguars | $272.1M | 21–30 | No |
| 2021 | New England Patriots | $234.6M | 22–29 | No |
| 2020 | Miami Dolphins | $239.1M | 28–22 | No |
| 2019 | New York Jets | $204.5M | 13–36 | No |
| 2018 | Chicago Bears | $233.5M | 28–20 | No |
| 2017 | Jacksonville Jaguars | $148.9M | 21–27 | No |
| 2016 | Jacksonville Jaguars | $230.0M | 18–30 | No |
| 2015 | New York Jets | $182.8M | 19–29 | No |
The data makes it pretty clear. Winning free agency doesn’t translate to winning championships. Only two of those teams listed above had a winning record in the three years following their big spending spree. None of them even reached a Super Bowl, let alone won it. We’ve seen the Bears be major spenders in the past. Even before 2018, Phil Emery went crazy in 2013 with several huge additions. His team didn’t even make the playoffs. Facts are facts. Free agency should be about plugging holes, you know, the draft can’t.
The Bears are deploying this strategy to perfection.
If you listen to top draft experts, they’ve all been saying the same thing. This is a class for teams that need edge rushers, wide receivers, cornerbacks, and safeties. Now look at what the Chicago Bears have done. They signed only one starting safety (Coby Bryant). They haven’t signed any edge rushers, and Cam Lewis, a rotational backup in Buffalo, is their only addition at cornerback. Meanwhile, they traded for a center, signed two left tackles, two defensive tackles, and a starting linebacker.
This feels like a team preparing to invest heavily at edge rusher, cornerback, and safety next month. They have four picks in the first three rounds. If the Chicago Bears hit on their evaluations as they did with the 2025 class, this team could be a lot faster and more explosive than last year. All the while, they’ve managed to maintain loads of cap flexibility for the future by avoiding investments that ultimately wouldn’t have moved the bottom line as much as people believe.