During the first wave of 2025 NFL free agency last week, the Chicago Bears spent more than $90 million to improve their defensive line. In just two days, they signed veteran defensive tackle Grady Jarrett to a three-year, $42.75 million contract and defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo, who can also play inside at defensive tackle, to a three-year, $48 million contract. However, Chicago’s new investments may prompt the team to push one of its returning veteran starters.
With the 2025 draft only five weeks away, Pro Football Focus’ Bradley Locker ranked each team’s most desirable – and probable – trade assets, naming interior defensive lineman Andrew Billings as the Bears’ best option.
“Billings played only 297 snaps last season while battling a torn pec, but he was still productive in that stretch, producing a 78.6 PFF pass-rushing grade,” Locker noted in an email. “Gervon Dexter Sr. is returning, Jarrett will presumably start and Chicago might draft another player inside, which means the 30-year-old Billings – in a contract year – could be an asset.”
Billings signed a one-year contract with the Bears in 2023 free agency, but he rapidly impressed the organization as a run-stuffer, earning a two-year, $8 million extension just eight months later that kept him with the team until 2025. In 2024, however, Billings played only eight games before suffering a season-ending pectoral injury, forcing the Bears’ defensive front to rely more heavily on Dexter, Chris Williams, and recently released veteran DeMarcus Walker.
Billings, who turned 30 earlier this month, is now looking to recover from a significant injury while also facing stronger competition for a spot on the Bears roster.
While the Bears may want to give Billings an opportunity to earn his keep in training camp,
They could potentially trade him for some of the top defensive tackle prospects in the 2025 draft class. The 30-year-old Billings is unlikely to fetch more than a late-round draft pick, but the Bears may believe that is sufficient compensation with only one fifth-round pick and two seventh-round picks on Day 3 of the draft. According to Over the Cap, if the Bears cut or traded Billings, they would free up $2.32 million in cap space, leaving $1 million in dead cap.
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