Chicago Bears head coach Ben Johnson made a bold choice when he hired 28-year-old Declan Doyle as his offensive coordinator for the 2025 NFL season.
Doyle is seen as a rising star in NFL coaching, having spent the majority of his career working under Super Bowl champion coach Sean Payton. He spent four seasons as an offensive assistant with the New Orleans Saints before following Payton to the Denver Broncos in 2023 to become his tight ends coach.
Now, Doyle is the NFL's youngest current coordinator and will have a hand in helping Johnson rebuild the Bears offense around quarterback Caleb Williams. He may also have input on whom the Bears pursue in 2025 NFL free agency.
Here are three pending NFL free agents with connections to Doyle who could make sense as potential signing targets for the Bears:
1. Juwan Johnson, TE, New Orleans Saints
The Bears have a steady No. 1 tight end in Cole Kmet who was underutilized by the previous staff during the 2024 season, but they will likely look to replace their No. 2 -- Gerald Everett -- in the upcoming offseason after he disappointed last year. If they do, Johnson would make sense as a reliable second option.
Johnson finished with career highs in receptions (50), receiving yards (548) and passing targets (66) for the Saints last season. He has also developed into a reliable red-zone threat with the eighth-most touchdown catches (18) among NFL tight ends over the past four seasons, according to Pro Football Focus.
The Bears could certainly use Johnson's red-zone prowess in tandem with Kmet in 2025. Johnson also caught his most touchdowns (seven) in 2022 during Doyle's last season in New Orleans. Coincidence? It's worth finding out.
2. Nick Westbrook-Ikhine, WR, Tennessee Titans
Despite not being one of the headlining wide receivers in the 2025 free-agent class, Westbrook-Ikhine was a touchdown machine for the Titans last season.
He caught eight touchdowns during an eight-game stretch from Week 6 to Week 13 and finished with a team-high nine on the season, matching his number of touchdowns to his number of starts for the Titans. He demonstrated he is a willing blocker, something the Bears' new offense could use.
While Westbrook-Ikhine does not have any direct ties to Doyle, they both spent time in the Big Ten Conference around the same time. Westbrook-Ikhine nearly touched 1,000 receiving yards during his breakout season for Indiana in 2016, the same year in which Doyle worked as a student offensive assistant at Iowa.
If Doyle saw something he liked, maybe he'd ask the Bears to circle back.
3. Noah Fant, TE, Seattle Seahawks
While Fant is not scheduled to hit free agency this year, he could be a potential cut option for the Seahawks, who would save about $9 million by releasing him.
Should that happen, the tight ends coach in Doyle could take an interest.
Fant has never lived up to his first-round potential during his stops in Denver and Seattle, but he has also put up at least 30 receptions and 400 receiving yards in all six of his seasons and demonstrated he can stretch the field. If Chicago nabbed him, Johnson and Doyle could figure out ways to use him and Kmet as Options 1A and 1B, adding another wrinkle to their personnel plans.
The problem with Fant is that he would likely become the top tight end on the market if the Seahawks moved on, meaning there could be a bidding war for his services. The Bears won't want to do that with major money sunk into Kmet.
