Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace said the team would address the receiver position in free agency on Wednesday, and hours later, the club signed former San Diego Chargers receiver Eddie Royal on a three-year contract.
Financial terms of the deal weren't immediately disclosed.
Royal put together his most productive season in three years with the Chargers in 2014, playing a full, 16-game season for the first time since 2010. Royal played in 722 snaps, finishing with a team-high 22 catches on third down.
The Bears hope Royal can replace some of the production lost when the club gave up a seventh-round pick five days ago to trade Brandon Marshall to the New York for the Jets' fifth-round selection
A second-round pick by the Denver Broncos in the 2008 draft, Royal turns 29 in May. Royal played his first four seasons for the Broncos, and has totaled 388 career receptions for 3,750 yards and 25 touchdowns in seven NFL seasons.
Royal put together his best season as a rookie in 2008 as a teammate of current Bears quarterback Jay Cutler. Royal caught 91 passes that season for 980 yards and five touchdowns.
San Diego finished as the only team in the league with four players who totaled at least 778 receiving yards and four touchdown catches, which also was a franchise first. Big-play receiver Malcom Floyd topped the Chargers with 856 yards and six scores. Tight end Antonio Gates had 821 yards and 12 touchdowns. Keenan Allen totaled 783 receiving yards and four touchdowns, while Royal had 778 receiving yards and seven TDs.
Those same four receivers also finished 2014 with more than 50 catches (Allen 77, Gates 69, Royal 62 and Floyd 52).
The San Diego Union-Tribune earlier reported the deal.
ESPN.com Chargers reporter Eric D. Williams contributed to this report.