The yellow represents the new bumper sides, the red squares are the supports the go to the frame. It's a crude representation of my idea but I think you can see what I'm getting at.
The corners would be eliminated so you would have more clearance and less chance that you smash up anything if you did hit something. As I said, this is a crude idea but I think it would work.
I like your bumper man, I just see potential smashy-smashy there...