The Connor Williams watch can only heat up more now after comments made by his agent, Drew Rosenhaus.
Another player Rosenhaus represents could also be of interst.
The Bears are a team without a proven high-quality center and have relied instead on low-cost competitors for the position. Williams could be an ideal answer to tie together their line.
Williams was Pro Football Focus' highest rated center through much of last season but finished No. 2 behind Frank Ragnow following a tough season-ending torn ACL suffered in December.
However, Williams appears to be among the players who make quick recoveries from ACL injuries as Rosenhaus claims he is going to be healthy enough to go to a training camp.
"Let me go on the record and say Connor has had a remarkable recovery, nothing short of miraculous, really looking good at the start of the season," Rosenhaus told Miami-based sportscaster Josh Moser. "There's a lot of teams interested in him but I'm just delighted for Connor.
"I did not anticipate him going to training camp with the team and felt it might be something during the season before he played but now he's done an awesome job and we're going to see Connor Williams in someone's training camp."
The assumption by many had been Williams would return to Miami but Rosenhaus painted this as an unlikely situation.
"On behalf of Connor, I'm sure he'd be open to it but I wouldn't think that it's likely that he would return here with the Dolphins," Rosenhaus told Moser. "I certainly wouldn't rule anything out but the Dolphins did sign a fine center in Aaron Brewer from the Tennessee Titans and made a big investment."
Rosenhaus also said Williams would be playing center wherever he signs. This is an issue because Williams was a guard before converting.
The Bears situation with $21 million in cap space is not so much a monetary issue but whether they might want their extra money for a veteran edge rusher.
They signed former Rams center Coleman Shelton for one year and $3.5 million. They have Ryan Bates competing with Shelton after trading for the former Buffalo guard. Bates has played only about 200 snaps at center in the NFL and has been a guard throughout his career.
The Bears have an issue at right guard, where Bates played most of the time in Buffalo. Right guard Nate Davis experienced a rough 2023 season due to nagging injuries and the loss of his mother. He didn't get on the field during this year's OTAs and only for a few plays at one mandatory minicamp practice.
If the Bears added Williams to the offensive line, they could easily move Bates to right guard to compete with Davis.
Cutting Davis is not really an option. His departure would cost them $10.75 million dead cap space with only a savings of $602,941, according to Overthecap.com.
The Bears would have an awful lot of competition for jobs on the offensive line if they were to sign Williams.
Or is it even Williams they would be interested in? Rosenhaus also represents Emmanuel Ogbah, the free agent defensive end who was cut for cap purposes by the Dolphins in an attempt to save $13.7 million.
Moser also had talked to Rosenhaus about Ogbah and had this to say of him via Twitter.
"...the DE has "significant interest" from multiple teams. He's looking to get back into a 4-3 scheme instead of a 3-4..."
The 6-foot-4, 275-pound Ogbah is more the size of defensive ends in a scheme like Matt Eberflus uses with the Bears. At least he's more similar to the prototype than 242-pound Yannick Ngakoue was last year. He also has played 3-technique tackle, which is an added plus in the Bears system.
Ogbah was actually used at end and nose tackle with the Dolphins in the past. He has 42 1/2 career sacks in eight seasons for the Browns, Chiefs and Dolphins and was in Kansas City when Bears GM Ryan Poles was there but left after one season shortened by injury. It was the season of their first Super Bowl win and he had 5 1/2 sacks before a season-ending injury limited him to 10 games.
Ogbah had 5 1/2 scks last year to go with 20 tackles, three for loss.
