ESPN crushes two of Chicago Bears’ biggest offseason moves

By most accounts, the Chicago Bears had a wildly successful 2025 NFL offseason. General manager Ryan Poles went to work early with trades for guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson, and continued his roster reconstruction in free agency and the 2025 NFL Draft.

In total, the Bears added three new starting offensive linemen, a starting edge rusher and defensive tackle, and rookies who will compete for first-team reps at tight end, wide receiver, and left tackle.

Poles deserves a round of applause… unless you’re ESPN’s Seth Walder.

Walder gave Chicago a B- for their offseason efforts, and crushed two of Poles’ decisions: the trade for Jackson and signing Grady Jarrett in free agency.

“On the flip side, the Jarrett deal was awful value,” Walder wrote. “They gave him a three-year contract averaging $14.25 million with $28.5 million fully guaranteed, per Roster Management System. That includes a full guarantee on his 2026 base salary when Jarrett, who has been steadily declining, will be 33. Jarrett’s pass rush win rate at defensive tackle has dropped every season from 2019 (22%) to 2024 (9%), and he suffered a torn ACL in 2023.”

Sure, Jarrett probably won’t be the dominant interior defender he was with the Falcons earlier in his career, but he won’t have to be. This is the point Walder is missing, Jarrett is now a key piece to the Bears’ interior rotation, which features Gervon Dexter, Andrew Billings, and rookie Shemar Turner. Jarrett doesn’t have to be an every-down player anymore. That’s not why he’s in Chicago. Indeed, he’s being paid well, but his leadership and impact inside the locker room and on the practice field will justify his salary.

It’s also unfair to judge Jarrett by his 2024 campaign. It was his first season back from a torn ACL, and as anyone who’s paid attention to ACL recoveries long enough can tell you, it’s always the “year after the year” back that a player tends to return to form.

For Jarrett, that’s 2025.

Walder also crushed the Bears’ decision to trade for Jonah Jackson.

“But the Jackson trade was one of the most inexplicable moves of the offseason,” He wrote. “A year ago, Jackson signed a three-year, $51 million free agent deal with the Rams and then had a wildly disappointing 2024. The Rams tried him at center, then he was placed on IR after Week 2, returned to action in Week 10 and was benched before playing again in Week 18. In short, he couldn’t get on the field at center or guard.”

It’s hard to ignore Jackson’s horrendous 2024 season, but if Bears fans want to find a reason to be optimistic about his outlook in Chicago, it’s Ben Johnson, who coached Jackson into a Pro Bowl player with the Lions. If he signed off on the trade, who are we to question it?

Plus, the Chicago Bears can’t do much worse along the offensive line than they did in 2024, when they gave up the most sacks (68) in the NFL.