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The Chicago Bears are now planning to have at least one more of their current wide receivers back in Justin Fields’ arsenal for the 2023 season.
According to Ian Rapoport of NFL Network, the Bears have signed fifth-year receiver Equanimeous St. Brown to a one-year contract extension worth $1.25 million. He caught 20 passes for 320 yards and a touchdown in his first season with Chicago and will now stick with the Bears through the 2023 offseason instead of hitting free agency.
St. Brown is the epitome of a value signing for the Bears. At a veteran-minimum price, he will cost almost nothing against their 2023 salary cap, while his experience in Luke Getsy’s offense (including their three years together in Green Bay) gives them another knowledgeable veteran to help lead the position group, even if he becomes a backup.
The Bears now have four of their current wide receivers under contract for the 2023 season, including Darnell Mooney, Chase Claypool and rookie Velus Jones Jr. The remainder — such as veterans Dante Pettis and Byron Pringle — are set to become unrestricted free agents when the new league year officially begins on March 15.
Bears Should Be Hunting for True No. 1 Receiver in 2023
Extending St. Brown is a solid depth move for the Bears, especially since the price of his contract means they could always cut him if he underperformed or got outperformed next summer during training camp. And if St. Brown does stay, he can be a quality depth option who has already developed some degree of chemistry with Fields.
Still, the Bears need much more firepower than that before next season arrives.
The Bears have investments in two quality receivers between Mooney and Claypool, and while both have shown they can be formidable, neither has established himself as a true No. 1 receiver in the league. To unlock the full potential of Fields and the offense, the Bears need to find a way to bring a game-changer into the picture, someone who can take over games and be a playmaker on a consistent basis.
Unfortunately, the Bears could have some trouble securing one of those in the upcoming offseason. The 2023 free agent receiver market, once full of hope, has mostly dried up thanks to the wave of extensions that came rolling in last offseason for some of the best and brightest pass-catchers in the 2019 draft class. Instead, teams are left with guys like Jakobi Meyers, Allen Lazard, Jarvis Landry and Odell Beckham Jr. as their top signings options — which is way worse than seeing names like Deebo Samuel, Diontae Johnson, DK Metcalf, AJ Brown and Terry McLaurin out there.
The Bears could work to draft one of the top rookie wide receivers in the 2023 class, such as Quentin Johnston, Jaxon Smith-Njigba or Jordan Addison, but that might be difficult to accomplish with so many needs across the board and too high of a draft position to justify taking one of them outright. There is always the trade market — which Philadelphia used to get Brown from Tennessee last year — but it is difficult to say at this point which receivers could be in the conversation for a trade.
Which Other Bears Free Agents Could Earn Extensions?
St. Brown’s extension is a little surprising in the sense that it has been hard to tell which among the Bears’ pending free agents they might actually want back for next season. Many of them were either bridge players or depth pieces for the Bears in 2022, and there weren’t a ton of standout performances among the bunch.
According to Over the Cap, the Bears are projected to have more than $120 million in cap space for the 2023, while their high draft position gives them additional resources to make sweeping upgrades across their roster. Still, there might be a handful of names on their list of free agents who could be worth bringing back.
On the defensive side of the ball, DeAndre Houston-Carson, Armon Watts, Joe Thomas and Nicholas Morrow could all make sense as extension candidates for the same reasons as St. Brown — they know the system and displayed enough competence in their roles that they could be useful as veteran depth pieces in 2023. There is also undrafted rookie cornerback Josh Blackwell, who has played meaningful snaps for the Bears down the stretch and will be easy to retain as an exclusive rights free agent.
The most notable pending free agent for the Bears is running back David Montgomery, but it is unclear whether Chicago has any desire to re-sign him given the promising flashes they have seen from second-year back Khalil Herbert. He is much better than Herbert in pass protection. Perhaps, if Montgomery doesn’t like his outlook in free agency, the Bears could retain him for an affordable short-term extension to avoid losing one of their better offensive weapons.
Other potential extension candidates could include wide receiver N’Keal Harry, center Sam Mustipher (restricted free agent) and long snapper Patrick Scales.
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