Chicago Bears
2023 record: 7-10
Projected salary cap space: $82.9 million
Offseason storylines: Maybe you’ve heard about the decision facing Chicago at quarterback? Keeping Justin Fields for one more season – plus a fifth-year option available for next year – at $1.6 million and loading up the roster around him might excite part of the fan base. Starting over, with Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels or Drake Maye, also restarts the roster-building clock in that the Bears would have a QB1 at a total of up to $50 million for four years. Fields is undeniably a scintillating athlete but he hasn’t emphatically answered whether he’s a franchise quarterback three seasons into his pro career. The Bears were 27th in the NFL in passing and 20th in total offense last season.
Team Needs: DE, WR, FS, OL, TE
Top free agent: CB Jaylon Johnson – There’s still time to work out a deal both sides applaud but Johnson appears headed for the franchise tag, which pays cornerbacks $19.8 million on a one-year tender unless the two sides agree to a long-term extension by mid-July. Johnson wants to be one of the highest-paid cornerbacks in the league, and GM Ryan Poles dodges market-setting pacts as a matter of course.
Unrestricted free agents (as of March 11):
LB Dylan Cole
OG Dan Feeney
RB D’Onta Foreman
DE Rasheem Green
CB Jaylon Johnson
DT Justin Jones
TE Marcedes Lewis
WR Darnell Mooney
DE Yannick Ngakoue
OG Lucas Patrick
QB Nathan Peterman
LS Patrick Scales
WR Equanimeous St. Brown
WR Trent Taylor
TE Robert Tonyan Jr.
Exclusive Rights free agents:
DB Josh Blackwell
WR Joe Reed
