The Chicago Bears are in the beginning of a rebuild under new general manager Ryan Poles. This offseason, Poles overhauled the roster, which included getting expensive veterans off the books and signing a lot of cheap, one-year deals.
Unfortunately, that’s equated to arguably the worst roster in the NFL. But things are looking up for the Bears, who look to have more than $100 million in salary cap space in 2023.
With the NFL’s trade deadline less than one week away, Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger has a hypothetical trade proposal for the Bears, which involves acquiring additional draft capital in exchange for one key veteran, ahead of the Nov. 1 deadline.
PFF proposes the Bears trade defensive end Robert Quinn to the Kansas City Chiefs in exchange for a 2023 fourth-round and 2023 seventh-round pick. Given Poles’ connection with Kansas City and defensive end Frank Clark being suspended for two games, it’s a move that would make a lot of sense.
Quinn set a Chicago Bears franchise record in 2021 — a franchise known for its ferocious defenses over the years — with 18.5 sacks on the season. So far in 2022, however, Quinn has just one sack and a sub-10% pressure rate.
Kansas City will need Chicago to convert the majority of Quinn’s remaining 2022 salary into a bonus, which will lead to a boost in the return compensation as a result. The obvious connection here is Bears general manager Ryan Poles helping his former organization in the Chiefs mount another Super Bowl run.
While Quinn has a different build as a more slender rusher off the edge, he makes sense as a pass-rush specialist a team can let pin his ears back when an opponent is in an obvious passing situation.
Certainly the compensation isn’t what we might’ve expected before the start of the season with Quinn coming off that impressive 2021 season. But Quinn isn’t the future of this team, and Poles could certainly look to get him off the books and bank some additional draft capital.
There has been a report that the Bears have been shopping Quinn before the trade deadline. We’ll see if anything becomes of it.
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