Bears in free agency: Signing safety Kevin Byard could be just the start of a defensive upgrade

The Bears entered this month needing to replace three starters — who boasted a combined 308 games of experience — on a defense with the potential to be one of the league’s best. Sunday, they got a jumpstart on the free agency period by filling one hole, signing safety Kevin Byard.

The 30-year-old agreed to a two-year, $15 million deal, a source confirmed. He’s more durable and a more reliable tackler than Eddie Jackson, another two-time Pro Bowl player whom the Bears cut last month. He’s had a higher Pro Football Focus tackling grade than Jackson in every year since 2018 and has never missed a game in his eight-year career.

Byard was available because the Eagles — where he was traded by the Titans at midseason — cut him March 1. Most available players have to wait until 11 a..m. Monday, when the NFL’s legal tampering period begins, to find a team. Agents and teams can agree to contracts starting Monday —but players can’t sign them until 3 p.m. Wednesday.

With the free safety spot filled, Bears general manager Ryan Poles will look to replace defensive tackle Justin Jones and defensive end Yannick Ngakoue, who are both headed into free agency. If Poles can upgrade, he has a chance to turn one of the NFL’s best defenses over the second half of last season into one of the most intimidating in the league.

Signing defenders would also allow the Bears to use their dwindling number of draft picks — they pick twice in Round 1, once in Round 3 and twice in Round 4 — on an offense in need of a talent infusion. The Bears are targeting USC quarterback Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick and could use No. 9 on either a wide receiver or left tackle.

They figure to land another second-day draft pick when they trade quarterback Justin Fields. His destination will be determined by which quarterbacks land where in free agency over the next few days, as few teams consider him their No. 1 option this offseason.

Otherwise, their offensive movement early in free agency might be limited to a second-tier receiver, center and perhaps backup quarterback, where the Seahawks’ Drew Lock knows the Bears’ new playbook. They could monitor the running back market, where Saquon Barkley, Josh Jacobs and Derrick Henry are among the veterans that might prove too affordable to ignore.

Poles already made perhaps his biggest move of the free agent season, signing cornerback Jaylon Johnson to a four-year contract extension worth $76 million. The Bears led the NFL in interceptions in the last 10 weeks of last season, a surge that coincided with the arrival of defensive end Montez Sweat. Now the Bears need someone to play opposite him — and a three-technique tackle to play next to him.

“You could always have more rushers, you could always have more corners — you know I love that,” coach Matt Eberflus said at the NFL Scouting Combine. “But we’re close to being a pretty solid group.”

Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter could put that solid group over the top. In seven years against the Bears, he recorded 7 ½ sacks, 11 quarterback hits and one forced fumble.

Texans end Jonathan Greenard is the kind of stout run defender the Bears value, while the Jets’ Bryce Huff had the best Pro Football Focus pass rush rate of any free agent, albeit as a situational rusher. The Bills’ A.J. Epenesa played for new Bears coordinator Eric Washington in Buffalo, and the 49ers’ Chase Young played alongside Sweat in Washington, D.C.

Defensive tackle might hold the best free-agent fit: the Dolphins’ Christian Wilkins, whose nine sacks in 2023 almost doubled his career total to that point. The 28-year-old former first-round pick had the fifth-most sacks and ninth-most pressures of any interior lineman last year. He’ll be pricey. For a Bears franchise that had the fifth-most salary cap space before the Byard signing, he could be worth it.

Jason Lieser contributed.