NFL Free Agency Rumors: Chicago Bears Favorites to Sign Phil Loadholt
By Josh Hill
The Chicago Bears need help on their offensive line and they’re looking to free agency to get that help. Jake Long is a name being floated around but the Bears aren’t comfortable with his price and have begun looking elsewhere to start to patch up their frontline. According to Tom Pelissero of ESPN1500 in Minneapolis, the Bears have a “legitimate” interest in Vikings right tackle Phil Loadholt and are currently offering more money than the Vikings are.
#Bears' interest in Phil Loadholt is legitimate, I'm told. Offering better numbers than #Vikings, who don't want to go above $5M/year.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) March 12, 2013
Signing Loadholt doesn’t mean the Bears are out of the running to sign Jake Long, but one thing it does do is shore up a weak offensive line from 2012. Everyone from the Chicago media to Jay Cutler were vocal about how bad the protection was last season so it’s no surprise that the Bears are making it a priority this offseason.
What adding Loadholt to the offensive line does in addition to shoring things up, is it takes away a key piece of the Minnesota Vikings offensive line. There is a chance the VIkings will counter with a deal to keep Loadholt but as Pelissero said, the price the Vikings are comfortable with is $5 million per year and it’s looking like Loadholt will get that and then-some from the Bears.