Questions remain for Bears as NFL kicks off annual meeting

Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

PHOENIX — The Bears are in a different place, with different expectations, than they were at last year’s annual league meeting. One year into a rebuild that started with the hiring of general manager Ryan Poles, they have extra draft picks, the league’s most cap space and a better sense of what quarterback Justin Fields can do.

When Poles sits down Monday at the swanky Arizona Biltmore Resort and Spa, though, he’ll still have plenty of questions to answer. Some of them are no different than the ones he failed to solve last year:

• How will the Bears protect Fields?  Since Poles’ press conference introducing the first wave of Bears signings 11 days earlier, the Bears have signed Running back D’Onta Foreman, tight end Robert Tonyan, nose tackle Andrew Billings and linebacker/special teamer Dylan Cole.

Amazingly, the Bears still haven’t signed an offensive tackle. Were the season to begin today, they’d have to start Braxton Jones on the left side and Larry Borom on the right. Their backups are even more concerning: Alex Leatherwood, who played 32 offensive snaps last year, and Kellen Diesch, who played none.

The free agents remaining don’t offer much hope for a splash. Only four of the Pro Football Focus’ top 100 free agents are tackles who remain unsigned: Isaiah Wynn, Taylor Lewan, Cameron Fleming and Donovan Smith. Lewan could retire.

The Bears need to add two more difference-makers. That could come via the draft, when the Bears have the No. 9 pick and then three selections between No. 53 and 64. Poles could look  for veterans cut after the draft, too. The GM has made three trades since Halloween; could he seek a starter that way?

He has to do something. Fields was sacked on 14.75% of his dropbacks last year, the most since the AFL-NFL merger for someone who threw at least 300 passes in a season.

• What’s the rush? After posting one of the worst defensive line performances in their history, the Bears have added just two free agents at the spot: DeMarcus Walker, an end who can shift inside on obvious passing downs, and Billings.

That’s not enough. They have a league-high $38.8 million in salary cap space left, per Spotrac.com. Poles might regret not plunging into the pricey depths of the defensive tackle market. Three of the top four defensive earners, in terms of 2023 cash, were tackles paid this spring: the Commanders’ Daron Payne, who received the franchise tag, the 49ers’ Javon Hargrave and the Seahawks’ Dre’Mont Jones. The Bears were among the many NFL teams who considered Hargrave perhaps thge best free agent available at any position, but his age — he turned 30 last month — doesn’t match their timeline. Some questioned whether Jones’ skillset flashed too much finesse to fit coach Matt Eberflus’ system.

• The Rodgers factor. Coaches and general managers descending on the Biltmore from all over the league will give the Packers and Jets a chance to negotiate quarterback Aaron Rodgers’ trade value in person. Rodgers said earlier this month he wants to go to the Jets, accusing the only franchise he’s ever known of haggling over trade compensation. The Jets have one first-round pick and two second-round picks.

Until a deal is struck, head coaches Robert Saleh and Matt LaFleur will be the star of their respective conferences’ media breakfasts. Saleh can’t talk about Rodgers — it’s tampering — but he can’t ignore reality. And LaFleur probably wishes he could talk about everything but his future Hall of Fame quarterback.

Amid that mess lies an important question for the Bears’ general manager. If Rodgers is indeed headed elsewhere, does the Bears’ timeline to compete change? Poles has talked about maintaining a steady rebuild, but the NFC North will get much easier without the quarterback who has rightly claimed to own his rivals.