CHICAGO -- Desperate for secondary help, the Chicago Bears agreed to terms with veteran safety Quintin Demps.
Demps snagged six interceptions in 13 games last year for the Houston Texans. He entered the league in 2008 with the Philadelphia Eagles, and he also spent time with the Kansas City Chiefs and New York Giants. He has 18 career picks.
Terms: Three years, $13.5 million with $5 million in the first year, according to ESPN NFL Insider Adam Caplan.
ESPN 150 Ranking: 84
Grade: The move is in the B-minus range. Demps is supposedly great in the locker room, but he's going to be 32 in June. The Bears went the veteran route at safety two years ago with Antrel Rolle, and it did not pan out. In fact, Rolle asked Demps on Twitter to, "call me" when news of the deal broke. Rolle assuredly just wanted to wish Demps good luck in Chicago, but the timing of the message is funny because Rolle's time with the Bears did not end well. Maybe Demps experiences better luck, but the move is somewhat curious.
What it means: Demps is one of the club's starting safeties in 2017. The Bears aren't paying him $5 million this upcoming year to ride the bench or play exclusively on special teams. Chicago has to force more turnovers in the secondary, and one of Demps' main selling points is that he picked off six passes in 2016. That's almost more than the entire Bears defense had last season. The Bears felt Adrian Amos and Harold Jones-Quartey were inconsistent last year, so the entire safety group is put on notice. The move also means the Bears are under pressure to win. Signing an aging safety isn't exactly the blueprint for a rebuild.
What's the risk: Age. The Bears don't want Rolle 2.0. But Demps has only been a full-time starter for two seasons. There aren't as many miles on the body. The Bears are likely to reference that fact at the introductory news conference. Still, the Bears often tout their youth movement under Ryan Pace and John Fox. How many times have we heard how the Bears went from one the NFL's oldest rosters to the youngest? So, why skew older? Demps' age isn't a deal-killer, but it's a slight concern. Demps also missed a lot of games between 2010-12.