One of the biggest needs the Chicago Bears must fill this offseason is at pass rusher. The NFL Draft offers several intriguing prospects at the top of Round 1, but the best option for general manager Ryan Pace will come from within his own division.
Lions DE Ezekiel Ansah is scheduled to become an unrestricted free agent, and while there’s a strong chance Detroit will slap the franchise tag on him, Pace has to make a strong run at the double-digit sack artist if he’s allowed to test the open market.
Ansah finished 2017 with 12 sacks in only 14 games. Six of those sacks came over the final two weeks of the season. He earned an 80.1 grade from Pro Football Focus, which ranks near his best season score issued by PFF in his career (81.9 in 2014).
He’s totaled 44 sacks in five seasons.
Ansah comes with a bit of risk. He’s missed five games over the last two years due to injury and had only two sacks in 2016.
Still, it’s rare that a player with Ansah’s skill set ever becomes available.
The Bears have plenty of money to spend in this year’s free-agent market, and Ansah will command top dollar. According to Spotrac.com, Ansah’s market value hovers around $10 million per season. His eventual contract is likely to come closer to Akiem Hicks’ $12 million per year, if not more.
It will cost the Lions $18 million to place the franchise tag on him.
A defensive line made up of Ansah, Hicks and Eddie Goldman would give opposing offenses nightmares. Literally.
In a division with Aaron Rodgers, Matthew Stafford and the suddenly elite Case Keenum, the Bears can never have too much talent along their defensive front. Ansah would be a monster addition to a defense that’s closing in on one of the premier groups in the NFL
A bit of reach maybe if only because it's tough to see Detriot letting him go especially if Matt Patricia becomes HC as expected.
The other issue would be does he play as DE or like Willie Young do we make a standup hybrid DE/OLB out of him. Either way I'm sure he could handle it. But my main reason for posting this is we need to be thinking about replacing McPhee. It's tough to believe Pace will be willing to keep him as part time guy at his 2018 salary when he might bring back Lamarr Houston for far less.
It would also be kind of ironic of we could replace Willie Young with a guy who kind of replaced him in Detroit.
One thing that keeps getting brought up(kept since Vic is back) is that the Bears were rarely in their 3-4 base package. There were a lot of sub packages, 70% of the time I think I heard, which they(670 and the people they were talking to about it) seemed to infur was at least part of the time was a 4-3. So even if he wouldn't be great as an OLB, he might spend more time as a 4-3 DE regardless.
One thing that keeps getting brought up(kept since Vic is back) is that the Bears were rarely in their 3-4 base package. There were a lot of sub packages, 70% of the time I think I heard, which they(670 and the people they were talking to about it) seemed to infur was at least part of the time was a 4-3. So even if he wouldn't be great as an OLB, he might spend more time as a 4-3 DE regardless.
Thats a good point. I guess it depends on what he's asking for. He'll be 29 this upcoming season. I'd rather have DeMarcus Lawerence if I had a choice...but we'll see what shakes out.