{"id":754052,"date":"2026-02-15T15:31:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-15T15:31:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/754052\/"},"modified":"2026-02-15T15:31:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-15T15:31:11","slug":"question-of-the-day-who-will-be-the-big-splash-on-the-d-line-for-the-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/754052\/","title":{"rendered":"Question of the Day: Who will be the \u2018Big Splash\u2019 on the D-Line for the Bears?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Our Bill Zimmerman recently discussed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.windycitygridiron.com\/chicago-bears-rumors\/111075\/chicago-bears-rumors-will-they-add-a-big-piece-to-the-defensive-line\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">rumors<\/a> that the Bears are expected to make a \u201cbig splash\u201d on the defensive line. Well, what could be that big splash? Here are some candidates who could be had either by trade or in free agency:<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Maxx Crosby (Las Vegas Raiders): This would be the biggest of big splashes for sure. While Crosby is rumored to be very unhappy with the Raiders organization, is he unhappy enough to demand a trade \u2013 and would the Raiders trade him?<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Trey Hendrickson (Free Agent): Hendrickson missed over half the season and had to have surgery, but prior to that, he led the league in sacks for two straight seasons. And Hendrickson only costs money.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Jeffrey Simmons (Tennessee Titans): Simmons remains one of the best defensive tackles in football, but he is 28 years old and may not be around for when the Titans are finally competing. He would come with a heavy price tag, but there is probably no more on the defensive line the Bears could make that would be a force multiplier for the defensive line.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">John Franklin-Myers (Free Agent). Franklin-Myers had a good season on a great defense for the Broncos this past year, but he is set to be an unrestricted free agent. He would make an immediate impact on the Bears\u2019 run defense \u2013 and boy, do they need it, considering they were one of the worst run-stopping teams in all of football last season.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Kenny Clark (Dallas Cowboys): Clark was moved by the Packers in the Micah Parsons trade, and he had a solid season for the Cowboys. He\u2019s 30 years old, however, and the Cowboys traded for Quinan Williams of the New York Jets, so perhaps they\u2019d consider moving Clark for modest draft capital.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Daron Payne (Washington Commanders): Payne was rumored to be a Bears target a few years ago, and this would reunite him with Montez Sweat. However, Payne\u2019s play has declined significantly. It isn\u2019t clear how much he has left. Then again, the Bears could likely get him for a 6th round pick.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Sheldon Rankins (Free Agent): Rankins is long in the tooth, but he is still a pretty good run defender. He is a potential cheap option the Bears could add.<\/p>\n<p class=\"duet--article--dangerously-set-cms-markup duet--article--standard-paragraph _1nfb3k4i _16w9vov1 _16w9vov0 ls9zuh1\">Who do you think will be the big splash on the defensive line for the Bears this offseason? <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Our Bill Zimmerman recently discussed rumors that the Bears are expected to make a \u201cbig splash\u201d on the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":754053,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2070],"tags":[374,692,391,58736,85235,2672,2493,7,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-754052","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-chicago-bears","8":"tag-bears","9":"tag-chicago","10":"tag-chicago-bears","11":"tag-chicago-bears-conversation-starters-and-community-questions","12":"tag-chicago-bears-discussion","13":"tag-chicago-bears-free-agency","14":"tag-chicagobears","15":"tag-football","16":"tag-nfl"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116075370837405635","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754052","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=754052"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/754052\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/754053"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=754052"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=754052"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=754052"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}