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Grading the Bears’ signing of DL DeMarcus Walker

The Chicago Bears were lacking on their defensive line in 2022 and made a move in free agency to hopefully improve in that area. The team signed former Tennessee Titans defensive lineman DeMarcus Walker to a three-year, $21 million deal with $16 million guaranteed.

Walker was drafted in the second round of the 2017 NFL Draft by the Denver Broncos and was fairly quiet in his first couple of years. He improved significantly in 2019 and 2020 and joined the Houston Texans in 2021 before spending 2022 with the Titans. Walker had his best season last year as a rotational player, totaling 32 tackles, 10 for a loss, and seven sacks, all of which were career highs.

Now, Walker comes to the Bears hoping to build on his success while helping the team improve their pass rush. Here is our initial grade of the move.

Contract details

Tennessee Titans defensive end DeMarcus Walker (95) celebrates a sack as they face the Cincinnati Bengals during the first quarter at Nissan Stadium Sunday, Nov. 27, 2022, in Nashville, Tenn.
Nfl Cincinnati Bengals At Tennessee Titans

Grade: B

Dec 4, 2022; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Tennessee Titans defensive end DeMarcus Walker (95) against the Philadelphia Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field. Mandatory Credit: Eric Hartline-USA TODAY Sports

There’s no denying that Walker’s numbers were impressive in 2022. He would have been one of the best defenders on the Bears last season and he did it all with limited snaps. But there has to be a little bit of concern that his performance was an outlier. Prior to last season, Walker was average at best for the Broncos and Texans. At 28 years old, did he turn a corner or did he reap the benefits of playing next to one of the better defensive tackles in Jeffery Simmons?

Make no mistake, this isn’t a bad move for the Bears. They only had 20 sacks as a team last year with just two defensive linemen eclipsing three or more (Trevis Gipson and Justin Jones). They needed someone who has shown they can take down the quarterback. His versatility is also a plus as he is able to line up outside or inside, creating potential mismatches on the line. To top it off, his contract is very feasible at just $7 million per year with $16 million guaranteed. But if he falls back to earth and it means the Bears missed out on a better option, that’s going to be a problem.

The NFL is all about recent performance and Walker has that going for him. He doesn’t need to match his 2022 output for next season to be considered a success. He just can’t perform like he did for the Texans in 2021 when he had just two sacks and four tackles for a loss in 13 games. We’ll see which Walker shows up in 2023.

Story originally appeared on Bears Wire