Assessing Javon Hargrave's possible fit as Bears defensive addition

So age doesn't seem to be a problem if the Bears wanted to pursue Hargrave a year after he missed the last 14 games with a triceps injury.

Knowing whether Hargrave fits two seasons after his big free agency contract into a defensive tackle rotation for the Bears becomes a matter as simple as fitting the player with the role.

The Fit

The Bears have a defensive tackle starter in Year 3 who they expect bigger things this season from Gervon Dexter. He flashed in Year 1, made some bigger plays in Year 2 and needs to put it all together. Perhaps it happens in Year 3.

The other defensive tackle is Andrew Billings, the key to their run defense. He's expected to be through a pectoral muscle injury and ready to go in the offseason at some point. They know the impact a healthy Billings had.

Even Ben Johnson knows the impact and he wasn't even with the team in 2024.

"This year what was a little different than 2023 was Billings being out," Johnson said. "Him being out, we could feel that when we played Chicago."

With Billings back, the role they're looking to fill is the third defensive tackle who comes in occasionally to spell the starters. Run defense is more important than pass rush as the Bears often take out one of the defensive tackles when they are in obvious passing situations and use an extra defensive edge player rushing from the inside if the threat of a run is small.

To bring in a highly paid free agent defensive tackle like Hargrave now would mean changing the pecking order of roles. They'd have to play him as one of the top two tackles and would more or less de-emphasizing Dexter's role at a time when he should be expected to come into his own.

The ideal person for this third role is a draft pick who is promising rather than a person who expects to start. They get fewer reps and so it's not crucial to have a player fitting in who is dominant.

The cash

Hargrave signed a four-year, $84 million deal with the 49ers as a top-end free agent at a position of need after he had seven and 11 sacks in the previous two years.

A player who has been making money like this is unlikely to come running to the dinner bell if servings are questionable.

The Bears are unlikely to devote a big chunk of their remaining $40 million in effective cap space to bringing in a veteran defensive tackle when they still have a center and an edge rusher to find.

The money goes quickly when you're signing players early in free agency.

Beyond this, the player who fits the job description is a rookie or first-year draft pick who is paid much less than an eighth-year, two-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle would get.

Available alternatives

When your need is for a third player to be in a rotation, and the money for this position will be less the place to find this player if you want to maximize your buck is in the draft and not free agency.

Draft picks are cheaper, but more than that the supply of defensive tackles this year in the draft is expected to be excellent.

Part of the reason defensive tackles cost so much in free agency is there are few who make it into free agency who are good players. Small supply drives up the cost.

It's better to draft someone who is cheaper, younger and suited to learning the position in that third defensive tackle role.

This season the supply of suitable defensive tackles in the draft is one of the bigger ones in the past decade. NFL Mock Draft Database has nine defensive tackles ranked in the top 72 picks on its consensus big board, and the Bears have four picks in the first 72.

Somewhere in there, it's possible they find a defensive tackle to fill the role they thought they had filled when they drafted Zacch Pickens, who finished 2024 being inactive behind veteran journeyman Byron Cowart and Chris Williams.