The biggest question swirling around the Chicago Bears is the lack of investment the team made at pass rusher, and the addition of five-time Pro Bowler Joey Bosa could be a short-term solution.
“The Bears have kept the status quo at edge rusher this offseason, not bringing in a player via free agency or the draft,” Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports wrote. “This comes after a 2025 season where the defense ranked in the bottom half of the league in sacks and pressure rate, so this does feel like an area of the depth chart that still needs to be addressed. While the top-tier free agents have already signed, there are some notable names still lingering on the open market, including Joey Bosa …”
The Bears, currently sitting on around $10.8 million in available cap space (as of May 4th), according to OvertheCap.com, would only sign Bosa on a cheap one-year deal.
Bears Viewed as Attractive Landing Spot for Ex-Chargers, Bills 5x Pro Bowler Joey Bosa
GettyJoey Bosa #97 of the Buffalo Bills warms up prior to a game against the New England Patriots.
Bosa, 30, still had a productive season last year with the Buffalo Bills, amassing 29 total tackles, five sacks, and five forced fumbles in 15 games. Considering he’s still on the open market, the former Bill and Los Angeles Charger would come cheaper than what Daniel Popper of The Athletic initially projected Bosa would sign (1 year, $11.5 million).
“After nine seasons with the Chargers, Bosa signed a one-year deal with the Bills last offseason, and he produced his best single-season pressure rate since 2022,” Popper wrote. “Bosa remains explosive off the ball, and he creates consistent commotion as a rusher and run defender. He still has some of the best pass-rush hands in the game.”
Bosa would also come into a favorable situation in Chicago as he won’t have to be the focal point of the pass rush arsenal, but would still have valuable reps opposite Montez Sweat, who the Bears feel confident will produce in 2026.
“[Montez] Sweat had one of his better years in the NFL, whether that shows up in the sack total or not,” Ben Johnson said. “He’s a very complete player, both run game and pass game.”
The 30 y/o, 5x Pro Bowler could be a good bridge EDGE this season.
Coming off 29 TOT, 5 sacks, 5 FF, & 47 pressures in ’25 with Buffalo.
Ryan Poles Confident in Current Pass Rush Unit
Signing a player like Joey Bosa would certainly help bolster the pass rushing unit, but general manager Ryan Poles is confident in the current group of players he has on the team.
“We feel good about those guys. What that group is and what they’re becoming, and we feel like there is some developmental upside and, like I said, with Year 2 in the system, we should be able to take the next step.”
Johnson also believes that with better coaching and guys returning from injury, the Bears’ pass rush is trending in the right direction.
“We’re certainly going to coach better than what we did a year ago. It starts there. We’ve made a concerted effort with how we’re going to get that done. We were excited about the guys that ended up finishing the season on IR, the trajectory that they were on, both Dayo [Odeyingbo] and Shemar [Turner]. When you look at it from the start of the season to the point where they both got injured, we saw growth and we saw them trending the right direction in terms of what we want to see on game day.”
As ESPN’s Courtney Cronin puts it, “Barring a significant addition up front, the Bears will have no choice but to search for improved play up front from within.”
Bears Viewed as Attractive Landing Spot for Ex-Chargers, Bills 5x Pro Bowler