Chicago Bears logo. Courtesy: NFL
After signing defensive lineman Montez Sweat to a four-year deal, the Chicago Bears signed defensive lineman Andrew Billings to a two-year contract extension, according to the Bears and General Manager Ryan Poles.
“We’re extremely excited to be able to keep Andrew in Chicago,” said Poles. “The professionalism, dependability and toughness he brings to our defense exhibit the type of player we want in our organization.”
Standing 6-1 and weighing 311 pounds, Billings was signed by the Bears in March of 2023 during free agency. Now in his first season in Chicago, Billings appeared in all eight games (eight starts) and accounted for 14 tackles (7 solo), three tackles for loss and a quarterback hurry.
As a top defensive tackle prospect, Billings received an invitation to the NFL Combine. He attended the Combine and completed all of the required Combine drills.
At the time, Billings was listed by Fox Sports as one of their top-five biggest winners from the Combine, and his performance was perceived well overall by scouts for his display of raw strength, coupled with exceptional quickness and speed for a man of his size.
On March 16, 2016, Billings participated at Baylor’s Pro Day, along with Corey Coleman, Shawn Oakman, Spencer Drango, Xavien Howard, Grant Campbell, LaQuan McGowan, Jimmy Landes and seven other teammates.
A record 61 team representatives and scouts from all 32 NFL teams attended Baylor’s Pro Day, including general manager Kevin Colbert (Steelers) and head coaches Mike Tomlin (Steelers) and Bill O’Brien (Texans).
Billings performed well and chose to run the 40-yard dash (4.96), 20-yard dash (2.89), 10-yard dash (1.76), short shuttle (4.78), and three-cone drill (7.74), and decreased his times from the combine in all of them.
Following the pre-draft process, Billings was projected to be a late-first- or second-round pick. He was ranked the third-best defensive tackle prospect in the draft by ESPN, the sixth-best defensive tackle by NFLDraft-
Scout.com and NFL analyst Mike Mayock, and was ranked the seventh-best defensive lineman by Sports Illustrated.
He drew major interest and was linked to the Green Bay Packers, Washington Redskins, Pittsburgh Steelers and Minnesota Vikings
Billings attended Waco High School in Waco, Texas. He was rated by Rivals.com as a four-star recruit and committed to Baylor University to play college football. Billings also competed in powerlifting during high school and broke Mark Henry’s Texas record with 2,010 pounds. The record was set with an 805-pound squat, 500-pound bench press
Now in his seventh NFL season, Billings has appeared in 75 NFL games (59 starts), while logging 134 tackles (74 solo), 4.5 sacks and 16 quarterback hurries.
Prior to his arrival in Chicago, Billings previously spent time with the Las Vegas Raiders (2022), Cleveland Browns (2020-21) and Cincinnati Bengals (2017-19), after originally being selected in the fourth-round of the 2016 NFL Draft (122nd overall). Billings is a Waco, Texas, native and played collegiately at Baylor University (2013-15).
Joseph Phillips is the Sports Editor for the Chicago Crusader Newspaper. He is a Chicago native, who has been a sports writer for over 17 years. He also hosts the SC Media News and Sports Network Q&A radio show on WHPK 88.5 FM Chicago.
