General manager Ryan Poles’ decision to trade Roquan Smith on Halloween came at the confluence of what the Bears and the linebacker each wanted. Smith wanted an annual salary of about $20 million per season, and the Bears wanted a weak-side linebacker who could take the ball away.
“We covet ball production in that position,” head coach Matt Eberflus said two days after the Bears dealt Smith to the Ravens for a second-round pick. “So that right there is a very important thing that a ‘Will’ linebacker needs to do.”
Monday, the Bears agreed to sign a weak-side linebacker who didn’t take the ball away as often as Smith did. They will give Bills linebacker Tremaine Edmunds $72 million — with $50 million guaranteed — over four seasons, making him the highest-paid Bears player. It’s the largest four-year deal for an inside linebacker in the NFL.
Edmunds, who was drafted eight slots behind Smith in 2018, has fewer career interceptions and fumble recoveries than Smith — but one more forced fumble. Edmunds has 35 passes defensed to Smith’s 23, while Smith leads by sizable margins in sacks and tackles.
The Bears are projecting more ball production going forward from Edmunds, who, at just 24 years old, is 13 months younger than Smith. At 6-foot-5, 260 pounds, he’s four inches taller and about 30 pounds heavier than Smith, a frame is more in line with Eberflus’ ideal outside linebacker.
Edmunds’ athleticism is off the charts. When the Bills played at Soldier Field in December, it was Edmunds whom the team had spy quarterback Justin Fields. When he came out of Virginia Tech five years ago, Edmunds received a Relative Athletic Score that ranked No. 48 out of 1,779 linebackers who entered the draft in the previous 31 years.
Edmunds went to Pro Bowls in 2019 and 2020, but last year marked his best season. Pro Football Focus graded him fifth among all off-the-ball linebackers in 2022. Their No. 6 linebacker, T.J. Edwards, also signed with the Bears on Monday. Edwards, who grew up a Bears fan in Lake Villa, will make $19.5 million — with $12 million guaranteed — over three years, a source said. He’ll play middle linebacker; his friend Jack Sanborn, another Wisconsin alum and Chicago-area native, could slot at strong-side linebacker.
Combined, Edmunds and Edwards will average will $24.5 million per year. Smith, who complicated negotiations with the Bears by representing himself, got his contract from the Ravens in January: he’ll average $20 million per season over the next three years. Add second- and fifth-round draft picks the Bears got in the trade to Edmunds and Edwards, though, and the Bears’ exchange has a chance to pay dividends for years.
The Bears had one of the worst front sevens in the NFL last year after trading defensive end Robert Quinn and Smith during the season. They watched some of the biggest names at the position reach agreements Monday but figure to be active on the defensive line market in the next few days of free agency — and perhaps the draft, too.
The team’s linebacker corps, though, seems set.
Edmunds connects to the 4-3 defense through Bears play-caller Alan Williams. A decade ago, Williams was Vikings head coach Leslie Frazier’s defensive coordinator; Frazier was the Bills’ coordinator for all five of Edmunds’ seasons.
“Tremaine, it’s been fun to watch him grow,” Bills coach Sean McDermott said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “He’s such a young player. He was such a young player when we first got him out of the draft. And he’s still a young player with his age. But to watch him mature and grow on the field, off the field has been a true joy as a coach. ...
“You never replace a person or a player like a Tremaine Edmunds.”
The Bears always believed they could replace Smith, though.
Monday, they did.
