The Chicago Bears moved swiftly Wednesday to fortify the middle of their defense, signing 25-year old Broncos inside linebacker Danny Trevathan to a four-year contract.
While teams around the league spent huge sums of money prior to the official start of the league year, the Bears patiently targeted Trevathan, who has a connection to head coach John Fox from Denver.
Trevathan played for three years under Fox while with the Broncos, recording a career-high 129 tackles in 2013.
Free agency is a risky proposition, but Trevathan is a young yet experienced winner, helping Denver defeat Carolina in Super Bowl 50. Instead of overpaying for an edge-rusher, the Bears went with the safe route, locking up a player Fox is familiar with.
Essentially Trevathan was a no-brainer for the Bears. Plus inside linebacker is a major area of need.
The Bears struggled at inside linebacker in their new 3-4 scheme. Although the club recently gave Shea McClellin yet another quasi-vote of confidence, neither McClellin, Christian Jones nor the rotating cast of rookie inside linebackers played well enough in 2015 to solidify the position long term.
In Trevathan the Bears have another piece, next to outside linebacker Pernell McPhee, to build around moving forward.
Expect the organization to focus on defense in April’s draft as well, but the Bears still need a handful of experienced leaders to help, along with the expected younger nucleus of players. At times last year it seemed McPhee and free agent defensive end Jarvis Jenkins were the only two healthy, experienced voices inside the locker room on that side of the ball.
The signing of Trevathan should change that. Without question the Bears' agreement with Trevathan makes them better on defense than they were one year ago.
