Chicago Bears Free Agency Speculation: Power Ranking Best FAs Who Fill a Need
Published by Bob Warja on May 24, 2011
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
Free agency in the NFL is a term that is difficult to define right now, and that isn’t just because of the lockout making us all wonder if there will even be a season in 2011.
In 2010, teams operated without a salary cap and under different rules than in years past.
The biggest difference in the 2010 free agency rules was that a player couldn’t become an unrestricted free agent until after his sixth year in the league. In previous years when the league operated under a salary cap, players only had to wait four years to become unrestricted.
Will the new CBA, once signed, sealed and delivered, revert back to the pre-2010 rules? If so, there will be many players who suddenly find themselves as unrestricted free agents.
There is no option for the player’s previous team to match an offer given to an unrestricted free agent, and there is no compensation awarded to them.
For the purposes of this article, I will include all free agents without regard to status. Let’s take a look and see who may be available to the Bears and rank the best ones that fill a need for the team.
However, I will exclude any player franchised or where there is no doubt he is re-signing with his current team.
