Bears’ Jaylon Johnson is in the final year of his contract and his extension has been the talk of the offseason. When asked if he wanted to get an extension done with the Bears he said “100 percent”
Another Bears potential free agent signing to help boost the pass rush is off the board. According to multiple reports, Frank Clark is set to sign with the Denver Broncos.
Clark is set to turn 30 years old later this month, but he was still a highly productive player for the Chiefs last season. His 56 total pressures tied for 20th-most in the NFL among edge players per PFF.
There was a thought the Bears may be interested in Clark since GM Ryan Poles has ties to Clark from their time together in Kansas City. The two were in the building together from 2019-2021, and Clark earned Pro Bowl honors in each of those three seasons.
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Over his eight year career, Clark has 58.5 career sacks, 67 TFL, 14 forced fumbles and seven fumble recoveries. The Bears could use someone with a track record of production like that considering they ranked dead last in the NFL with just 20 sacks in 2022. The Bears have added a few pieces to the defensive end group, including DeMarcus Walker, Rasheem Green, Jalen Harris and D’Anthony Jones. But Walker just set a career high with 7 sacks last year, which greatly outpaced the 2.5 sack per year pace he set over the first five years of his career. Green is another veteran, but similarly has only notched 17 sacks over five seasons. Harris and Jones are each undrafted free agents, so they’re unknown commodities at the NFL level.
The edge rusher market had slowed down after the first wave of free agency wrapped up, but it appears to be picking up as teams finish OTAs. Leonard Floyd agreed to a deal with the Bills on Monday to kick things off again. There are still several names available on the market, like Yannick Ngakoue, Dawuane Smoot and Justin Houston.
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