A premium name just hit the free agent market in defensive end J.J. Watt, but the Chicago Bears should stay away.
After a fallout with the Houston Texans and their overly dysfunctional organization, Watt had asked for his release. The Texans did the right thing by obliging, and Watt will now be free to find a new team.
Now, normally it would only seem logical to go and add a player of Watt’s caliber. But, in the Bears’ case, they should avoid him at all costs.
Watt is an incredibly gifted player, and if healthy, he can still offer plenty to a contending team. But, that’s the question. Are the Bears a contending team?
Before they consider themselves a contender, the Bears have a lot of work to do at a few key positions. But, it starts with the quarterback. First off, Watt wants to win. He’s made plenty of cash throughout his career, and all last season was about competing, playing hard and trying to win games — something he called his team out on towards the end of the year.
If Watt wants to win, there isn’t any way he will consider signing with the Bears. The quarterback position is far from solved, so in that tone alone, Watt wouldn’t want to come to Chicago.
But, we have seen general manager Ryan Pace do some idiotic things in the past. His next mistake cannot be offering Watt a boatload of money.
The Bears have to save their money for bringing Allen Robinson back, and not only that, trying to keep Robinson happy. The money could be used to help absorb a quarterback contract from a potential trade. If that trade meant landing someone like Matt Ryan or, shockingly, Deshaun Watson, then Robinson would be satisfied.
That’s priority number one — the offense. This team does not lack in defensive talent. They have enough of that. For that side of the ball, it’s about using the talent correctly and within the right scheme.
While Watt would make this defense even scarier, the Bears likely wouldn’t be able to afford fixing the quarterback, re-signing Robinson and also adding an offensive tackle via free agency; assuming those are all done outside of the draft.
Sure, the draft will likely see the Bears address one or more of those positions. However, their limited cap space has to be used wisely as well. Watt might not command a pricy contract at this stage in his career, and because he just cares about winning, but the Bears would still probably have to pay a decent chunk of change to afford him.
It isn’t likely, but for the fans out there immediately clamoring to sign Watt, the answer should be a quick and easy ‘no’ from Pace — end of discussion.
