2016 Bears free agency plan

With plenty of cap space, lots of positional needs, will the Bears be active in free agency?

There is no sure plan, there has been a lot of Twitter rumors about how active or not that they will be.

In all likelihood, the Bears may be in on negotiating with one or two "tier one" big-money free agents but will do most of their moves in the second and third tier.

I am basing this on last year's period and while no two years are the same, the Bears aren't in an "all-in for a championship" mode where they will be looking for on or two big money pieces to chase a championship.

Last year we saw Ryan Pace go after Pernell McPhee early to get a blue chip caliber player for the team's new 3-4 defense. Pace was methodical with it, signing three players to multi-year deals (McPhee, Antrel Rolle and Eddie Royal) and then he shored up the roster with a number of one-year deals.

I don't know if Pace is going to do the same thing this year because while one-year deals allow roster flexibility, as Pace adds more and more talent to the team through the draft he will likely want to sign a few free agents to longer deals as well so that there is a little more continuity year to year.

Today the rumor mill begins, the so-called "legal tampering" window opens until free agency begins at 3 p.m. Wednesday. The Bears will likely be linked to a few names over the next couple of days and, perhaps, even comes to an agreement with one of them.

How active do you expect the Bears to be in free agency? Which free agents do you hope the Bears try to sign?