Getty Former Packers veteran tight end Marcedes Lewis signed with the Bears on Friday, August 4.
The Chicago Bears are adding an elite-caliber blocking tight end to their roster less than 24 hours after finally landing veteran pass rusher Yannick Ngakoue.
According to NFL insider Josina Anderson of CBS Sports, the Bears are signing 39-year-old tight end Marcedes Lewis to a one-year, $2 million contract for the 2023 season, adding a formidable blocker and backup option to their tight end room.
Lewis spent the past five seasons with the Green Bay Packers, catching a total of 57 passes for 582 yards and six touchdowns, but he earned his keep as a reliable blocker. According to Pro Football Focus, he was the fifth-highest-graded run-blocking (66.6) in the league among all tight ends who played at least 250 run-blocking snaps.
Lewis also has familiarity with Bears offensive coordinator Luke Getsy’s system, having operated in a similar wide-zone blocking scheme under Matt LaFleur in Green Bay. While he projects to slot in as the third tight end on the depth chart behind starter Cole Kmet and fellow ex-Packers Robert Tonyan Jr., he should be a boon for their run game.
The Bears have not yet officially announced the signings of either Lewis or Ngakoue, but they will need to make a pair of corresponding roster moves in order to clear the necessary spaces for them on their 90-man roster.
Marcedes Lewis Embarking on NFL-Record 18th Season
With a deal now in place with the Bears, Lewis is preparing to embark upon his 18th season in the NFL after originally coming into the league in 2006 as a first-round pick (No. 28 overall) for the Jacksonville Jaguars. It will be the most seasons ever played by an NFL tight end, breaking his tight with Jason Witten and Tony Gonzalez.
“If you just look at my film from the last three years, there’s no decline in what I’m able to do,” Lewis told The Associated Press in June. “I’m the best blocking tight end out there.”
The Bears will hope Lewis’ claim holds true for the upcoming season. The majority of the pass-catching work is bound to go to Kmet and Tonyan, who are both younger and have demonstrated more vertical ability than Lewis in recent seasons. Lewis, however, is a grizzled veteran who can still offer a possession receiver for the Bears in a pinch.
More importantly, Lewis — and his towering 6-foot-6, 267-pound frame — should help the Bears with blocking in the run game. He has demonstrated that his size and strength are an asset in pounding back against edge rushers, and his arm length helps him maneuver them at will to create clearer rushing lanes for his backfield teammates. It doesn’t hurt, either, that Lewis’ long-term experience in the NFL should make him a terrific locker-room leader and mentoring presence for the Bears offense in 2023.
Lewis’ Signing Pumps Breaks on Bears TE Competition
Lewis has made sense as a camp addition for the Bears for quite some time now. He has a prior connection with both Getsy and Tonyan and offers a blocking weapon that the Bears could certainly use to assist the new personnel in their backfield in 2023. We here at Heavy even suggested Lewis as a potential free agent target for Chicago back in June.
But now that Lewis is joining the roster, the battle for the Bears’ No. 3 tight end role is essentially decided with Kmet, Tonyan and Lewis expected to be the rostered three.
The Bears were expected to have several tight ends square off against each other in training camp for what was believed to be one final spot in the rotation. Jake Tonges, a former undrafted rookie who spent the 2022 season with the Bears, had experience in the system working for him, but he would have still needed to earn it over challengers that include Chase Allen, Stephen Carlson and recent signing Jared Pinkney.
Unless the Bears make the unexpected decision to keep four tight ends on their 53-man roster, though, the quartet of roster-fringe tight ends will now have to compete for spots on Chicago’s in-season practice squad. There could be as many as two spots available for tight ends on the 14-man practice squad, and while it is not nearly as glamorous as a role on the 53-man roster, it does buy an opportunity to keep developing in the system.