The Chicago Bears’ roster has improved already – and we are still weeks away from the 2023 NFL draft. The Bears had the most cap space to spend and the No. 1 pick to trade this offseason and Ryan Poles took full advantage of it. Now, things are looking bright for Chicago.
With the rebuild in full swing, the Bears have had to fill many holes. They’ve started by adding depth to their wide receivers group, fixing up the offensive line, and plugging holes on defense.
There are a lot of players to be excited about, but here are five Bears with bright futures in 2023.
1
QB Justin Fields
In Justin Fields’ second season, he made a tremendous leap from his struggling rookie season. With less of a supporting cast, Fields went from seven passing touchdowns to 17, and improved his passer rating from 73.2 to 85.2. On the ground, Fields rushed for 1,143 yards and eight touchdowns.
Now, Fields is going to have an improved offensive line, a true No. 1 receiver in DJ Moore to throw the ball to, and a second season in Luke Getsy’s offense. He is going to be set up for success, it’s up to him to prove that he is the franchise quarterback that the Bears traded up for.
With everything falling into play, Fields has one of the brightest futures in the entire NFL. If he can take the jump experts and fans alike are expecting, Chicago is going to be very good for years to come.
2
WR DJ Moore
There’s going to be an argument that the Bears won free agency just off of the trade they made for DJ Moore – that is if Fields and Moore live up to the hype.
Moore’s future is bright in Chicago because he is finally going to be in a stable situation. In Carolina, he played with several different quarterbacks. With the Bears, if all works out, he’ll be playing with one for a long time to come.
In five seasons, Moore has 364 catches for 5,201 yards and 21 receiving touchdowns. In those five seasons, he’s eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards in three of them. Something Bears fans will love is that Moore has only missed two games in his career.
3
S Jaquan Brisker
Jaquan Brisker, arguably the best rookie on the team last season, has a bright future in the NFL. The second-round selection started in 15 games last season, intercepting one pass, deflecting two, and forcing one fumble. In addition to that, he had 104 combined tackles in 2022 and led the team with four sacks.
Brisker quickly became a fan favorite due to his play on the field. Pro Football Focus gave him an 82.4 grade out of 100 for his play during his rookie season. He was also named to the Pro Football Focus All-Rookie team.
The future is bright for Brisker after an exciting rookie season. He is going to be a player Poles builds his secondary around over the next few seasons as the Monsters of the Midway return.
4
LB T.J. Edwards
Free agent signing T.J. Edwards is coming off of a four-year stint with the Eagles, where he just played in the Super Bowl. The 26-year-old had a career-high in combined tackles last season with 159, along with a career-high nine quarterback hits and two sacks.
Something that drew Edwards to Chicago is that he is a hometown kid. He grew up in Lake Villa and was a Bears fan. Now, he gets to play for his hometown team.
There’s a lot of excitement surrounding Edwards considering how the Bears traded away their three best defensive players last season in Roquan Smith, Khalil Mack, and Robert Quinn. Now, they’ve started to rebuild at linebacker in free agency and will likely continue in the draft.
5
LB Tremaine Edmunds
From one linebacker to another with a bright future, the Bears signed Tremaine Edmunds this offseason to be their MIKE linebacker to replace Smith. Edmunds played for the Bills for the first five years of his NFL career, making the Pro Bowl in two of those five seasons.
Edmunds is coming off of a 2022 season where he had 102 combined tackles with three quarterback hits and one sack. Poles bringing in young, successful linebackers to fill those holes has proven that he is serious about revamping this defense to the level they were in 2018, and hopefully better.
With Edmunds at middle linebacker, just like he was in Buffalo, he’ll be a leader on defense. Him playing alongside Edwards is going to be a great duo for years to come.
