According to Dan Pompei of the Chicago Tribune, the Bears are unlikely to sign one of the premier offensive tackles in next year’s draft, and more specifically Jake Long.
Pompei adds that Long would likely require “somewhere in the vicinity of $11 million a year, and a monster signing bonus.”
Long’s overall ability has seen a noticed drop in the last few seasons, so it’s hard to say that NFL teams in general view him as an elite talent at this point. The Dolphins reportedly would only have interest in retaining the former No. 1 overall pick if the price was right, which isn’t exactly a huge endorsement of him moving forward.
With that being said, Chicago will have a less cap space to work with this year, so going after one of the top offensive tackles like Ryan Clady, Sebastian Vollmer or even Long will not be easy unless they start shedding salary in other areas.
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Jermon Bushrod? Do you see him being a possibility or would he command too much $ as well? With finances being an issue, I wouldn’t mind seeing the Bears sign G Andy Levitre as a free agent and targeting a OT such as Eric Fisher in the draft.
Great question!
The fact that there’s an ample supply of quality OT’s should bring down the asking price for the mid-level players like Jermon Bushrod, so I’m not ruling anything out at this point. Chicago could still free up extra cash if they absolutely needed to, just as any NFL team could, given that contracts aren’t guaranteed beyond bonus $.
With that being said; I really like your alternative strategy a lot. Andy Levitre is one of the most underrated players in the league and would certainly help their interior o-line. He should also be a reasonable option, even on the open market. Eric Fisher’s draft stock appears to be on the up tick, but we’ve seen quality OT prospects drop in the last few drafts, so should be available to them in the late-teens to mid-twenties, depending on where they end up when it’s all said and done.