GREAT NEWS: Madubuike signed a $75.5 million, four-year contract with a $53.5 million guarantee.
The NFL pay cap and the choices each team must make in free agency may prevent the Bears from acquiring a vital, perhaps dominant defensive addition.
It goes like this: The Bears may be prevented from signing a defensive tackle, such as Miami’s Christian Wilkins, by Justin Madubuike’s new contract with the Baltimore Ravens. The trade moved the market up, so the Bears will have to think carefully before signing a player at that price.
The Bears need a strong three-technique defensive lineman if they are to implement head coach Matt Eberflus’ defensive plan as intended.
Both Zacch Pickens and Gervon Dexter, the defensive tackles they drafted last year, are still with the team, but neither one was accustomed to this style of play to have a significant rookie impact.
Actually, it’s not often that rookie defensive tackles play as well as Jalen Carter did for Philadelphia the previous season.
In order to fill the void left by free agency defensive tackle Justin Jones, the Bears will need to add either a great rookie or a seasoned player to their one-gap strategy at 3-technique.
With a franchise tag, Madubuike was never going to be considered for this job, but the deal he signed might make the Bears less interested in signing a free agent to replace him at the position. A deal of $75.5 million spread over four years and $53.5 million guaranteed was struck for Madubuike.
In this regard, the Bears have already made large financial payments to three defensive players. Tremaine Edmunds, a linebacker, is worth $18 million, Jaylon Johnson, a cornerback, is worth $19 million, and Montez Sweat, an average of $24.5 million annually. The Bears will only pay $13 million for Johnson’s contract this year before it increases considerably.
The Bears acquired DJ Moore in the second year of his contract, thus they are operating off of his $20.63 average yearly contract cost, which puts him in second place. It was designed to be the most expensive before they signed him in 2022, but for the next two seasons, the annual cap cost is only $16.05 million.
In any case, the Bears are using around $25 million more of the quota this season to cover defensive contracts than offensive ones. So, after Madubuike signed a contract at an average of nearly $19 million year, they’re going to rush into signing Christian Wilkins of Miami, whose demands will be significantly higher?
On defense, they would have four large contracts. T.J. Edwards, who made only $6.5 million a year last season despite being the best defensive player overall, should receive a raise if their defensive payment was determined by real production.
However, Madubuike reset the market, so the other defensive tackles will now demand this amount of money or more. It will be more in Wilkins’ instance. Even though the Bears have some of the most cap space available, only a small number of transactions of that nature will deplete their cash reserve.
Re-signing Justin Jones, their own free agency, or searching for a seasoned 3-technique who can assist at a significantly reduced cost while Dexter and Pickens establish themselves more could be the likely solutions.
In any case, the team will start the season without that one key player who is a dominant force at a crucial position for the plan.
Many problems would be resolved because of the considerably cheaper cost if they were able to select a defensive tackle in the draft who was comparable to Carter.
Byron Murphy of Texas is the top defensive tackle on the rise instead. He’s not the height Eberflus looks for in his 3-techs, standing at 6-foot-1 and 292 pounds. There’s no issue with the weight. DeForest Buckner, who weighs 295 pounds, was Eberflus’s successful three-technique. He’s six foot seven too. Even height, though, isn’t a major problem.
Murphy is coming out of a 3-4 defense, not the 4-3 one-gap system that the Bears used, which is the main problem with selecting the top defensive tackle in the draft. He would thus go through a transitional phase, just like Pickens and Dexter.
Not in a few years, but right now, this Bears defense needs that potent three-technique. They’re all set to move.
However, the amount spent on offensive must rise in proportion to the defense.
That’s another reason to believe they won’t be actively searching for a costly defensive free agent like Wilkins or Chris Jones of Kansas City.
The ultimate goal may be to strengthen both teams’ edge rushes while hoping that Eric Washington, the new defensive coordinator, can help the young defensive tackles. As a position coach and coordinator, he played a major role in improving the pass rush at Carolina and Buffalo.
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