The biggest early winner in free agency? Bears quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, the second-year, would-be franchise quarterback who is getting a lot of weapons added around him courtesy of GM Ryan Pace.
First up was the addition of Allen Robinson, with the Bears agreeing to terms with the young wide receiver on a pricey but not prohibitive three-year contract. Robinson once had a 1,400-yard season in which he led the league in touchdowns while catching passes from Blake Bortles ... at the age of 22.
At just 24, Robinson still has a ton of upside and should be incentivized to have a great few years in Chicago as he'll hit free agency again in the prime of his career if he does.
But Pace wasn't done with his recreation of the 2017 Los Angeles Rams. After hiring Matt Nagy -- a young, aggressive offensive mind in the mold of Sean McVay -- he got his second-year quarterback an additional weapon by giving tight end Trey Burton a deal to steal him away from the Eagles.
Burton became best known for throwing a touchdown pass to Nick Foles in the Super Bowl, but he was one of the low-key free agents teams were eying, a talented young tight end stuck behind Zach Ertz on the depth chart in Philadelphia, and a young weapon who wasn't getting as much attention as he should.
Pace clearly liked him, because the GM handed him a four-year, $32 million deal, according to a report from NFL Media's Mike Garafolo.
That's a lot of cheese for an unproven player, but Burton has had some nice production the last two years in Ertz's shadow. In those two seasons, he registered 60 receptions for 575 yards and six touchdowns, with a minimal number of starts.
Bears fans are through the roof with the way the depth chart looks.
QB: Trubisky
— Sean Wagner-McGough (@seanjwagner) March 13, 2018
RB: Howard and Cohen
WR: Allen Robinson
WR: Cameron Meredith
WR: Kevin White
TE: Shaheen
TE: Burton
Still think the Bears should bring back Kendall Wright and/or Dontrelle Inman. Can’t count on White. But besides that, allow me to say 😍😍😍
The dual tight end thing is interesting: Shaheen was a pretty high draft pick for Chicago last year and considered a "Baby Gronk" type. Investing in Burton like this would indicate he'd actually be higher on the depth chart, but it's entirely possible the Bears could use both guys in two-tight-end sets.
Having Jordan Howard, Tarik Cohen, Robinson, Burton and Shaheen all of sudden gives this Bears offense a lot of juice. Pace and Nagy have to develop Trubisky and hope he can be Jared Goff 2.0 (or Carson Wentz?) but there is a lot of reason to like what the Bears are doing this offseason in terms of developing their young quarterback and giving him plenty of weapons.