Chicago Bears defensive coordinator Vic Fangio (Dennis Wierzbicki-USA TODAY Sports)

Free agency is always a risky process. Teams spend a lot of money on outside players that they don’t really know and try to plug them in their system and see if it fits.

As the Chicago Bears are well aware of, sometimes trying to fit a square peg into a round hole leads to millions of dollars being wasted, which is why every team tries so hard to build through the NFL Draft.

However, teams can mitigate the risk of signing new players by sticking to guys that they already know from their previous experience.

The Bears can do this with offensive players from the Kansas City Chiefs potentially hitting the market, but defensive coordinator Vic Fangio’s connections could come in handy too.

The San Francisco 49ers have a handful of players set to hit free agency, and Fangio could be interested in reuniting with a few of the defensive players he helped draft before coming to Chicago.

Three free agents in particular could step in and contribute for the Bears right away, and Fangio can tell Ryan Pace everything he needs to know to reduce that free-agent risk.