The Bears are facing an uncertain offseason at safety, even with Eddie Jackson signing the most lucrative contract extension ever given to a player at his position. It's the status of his running mate, Ha Ha Clinton-Dix, that makes this such a volatile situation.
Clinton-Dix is scheduled to hit unrestricted free agency in March and there's been no indication that the Bears intend to re-sign him before the spending frenzy kicks off. If that's the case, there's a good chance a team with more cap flexibility will inflate Clinton-Dix's market value and make him too cost-prohibitive to bring back.
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Chicago can't afford to pay two safeties top-of-the-market salaries. As a result, Bears general manager Ryan Pace will be forced to look into the second tier of available third-level defenders.
One option who could make a lot of sense for the Bears is Saints' free agent, Vonn Bell. The former second-round pick from Ohio State has emerged as a quality starter whose 90.3 run defense grade from Pro Football Focus was the highest among all safeties in 2019. He has the kind of in-the-box skill set that makes him an appealing fit for Chicago. Bell's physicality will allow Jackson to revert to the elite ball-hawking center fielder that he was in 2018.
Bell started 13 games in 2019 and finished the season with 86 tackles, 1.5 sacks and one interception.
It's hard to predict how much Bell will command on the open market. A player with similar skills, Las Vegas' Karl Joseph, has a projected market value of $6.1 million per season, according to Spotrac. The higher-end free-agent safeties like Minnesota's Anthony Harris are at or over $14 million per year. Pace will likely be in the hunt for a player on the cheaper side of the pay scale, which means Bell could (and should) be in that mix.
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Safety is rarely discussed among the Bears' most pressing needs this free agency but it could quickly become the team's biggest weakness on defense if they don't find a capable replacement for Clinton-Dix.
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