Chicago Bears: Who Stays And Who Goes? Nicholas Morrow

Chicago Bears linebacker Nicholas Morrow was one of general manager Ryan Poles’ best free agent signings. Did he do enough to return next season, however?

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles took a lot of heat for his free agent signings last offseason. He shipped out a lot of popular veterans in order to cut costs. However, he did not replace them with players good enough to play the key roles they had. It was a bitter pill Poles and the Chicago Bears Nation had to take to move the rebuild forward.

As a result, the Bears have the highest salary cap space available when free agency starts. In addition, the Bears have eight draft picks, including the number one overall pick.

Poles’ phone will be ringing off the hook with teams wanting to trade for that pick. That means Poles will garner additional valuable picks.

First, though, he needs to see which players currently on the roster will stay and who needs to go. Once he answers those questions he’ll have a better idea of who to go for in free agency/draft.

We will take a look at some of those players. We started our series by looking at running back David Montgomery. Today, we look at linebacker Nicholas Morrow.

Does Morrow remain in Chicago?

Poles signed Morrow to a one-year contract last offseason. Morrow rewarded Poles and the Bears by having his best season, recording career-highs in total tackles (116), solo tackles (83), assists (33), and tackles for loss (11). He added an interception and 2 passes defended. He played in and started all 17 games in 2022.

In an underwhelming free agent class, Morrow was arguably Poles’ best signing. Did he do enough to stay in a Bears uniform, however?

This is what Poles said about Morrow in the introductory press conference:

In Nicholas we are getting a linebacker who plays the game fast and he is instinctive and intelligent. He attacks the game with an edge and a mindset to be great. It is going to be exciting to see him come in and improve our defense with that mentality.

Morrow did pretty much everything Poles expected. Despite the struggles of the defense, Morrow did a good job. He started out the season as the middle linebacker. After the Bears traded Roquan Smith, though, Morrow moved into Smith’s WILL linebacker position.

In this defense, the WILL (outside weakside) linebacker is incredibly important. He gets to go out and make a lot of plays. That is what Morrow did. Additionally, on a team that suffered a lot of injuries Morrow played in nearly every snap.

Looking at the numbers it seems that Morrow did a good job with the Bears. However, his position is one that requires a real playmaker. Head coach Matt Eberflus brought his defensive system over to Chicago. In his defense, the outside linebacker on the weakside is very important. That system helped Shaquille Leonard become one of the top linebackers in the game. The Bears expected Smith to be the next one but his desire for a trade over a contract dispute changed those plans.

Smith averaged about 10.5 tackles per game playing the WILL. After the trade, Morrow averaged about 6.7 tackles when he took over. That isn’t enough to be an impactful player at that position.

This defense is in need of some playmakers. Morrow is a solid player but he doesn’t have the ability to be impactful. Seeing how the injury bug can wreak havoc on a team, he would be a great depth signing. If the money is right, the Chicago Bears can sign him to be a busy backup and help the team win games in a rotational role.