Bears’ Montez Sweat trade helps answer key question about GM Ryan Poles’ plan

Bears’ Montez Sweat trade helps answer key question about GM Ryan Poles’ plan originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

For the second year in a row, Bears general manager Ryan Poles made a move at the NFL trade deadline, sending a 2024 second-round pick to the Washington Commanders for defensive end Montez Sweat, a source confirmed to NBC Sports Chicago. ESPN and NFL Media were the first to report the news.

Sweat checks a massive box for the Bears, adding an elite edge rusher to bolster the NFL’s worst pass rush.

On the season, Sweat has 27 pressures, eight sacks, and a win percentage of 10.6, per Pro Football Focus. Those numbers rank 19, 5, and 21, respectively, among edge rushers with at least 200 pass-rush opportunities, per PFF.

So far this season, Bears defensive ends have combined for five sacks, and only DeMarcus Walker has a win percentage above 7.6 percent (9.0).

Sweat is one of just seven players in the NFL with at least five sacks in each of the last five seasons. The other names on that list? T.J. Watt, Myles Garrett, Chris Jones, Khalil Mack, Maxx Crosby, and Brian Burns.

That’s good company. Elite company. The Bears didn’t have anyone remotely in that stratosphere on the defensive line.

Now they do.

Sweat will be a free agent this offseason, so the Bears should start contract extension talks immediately. While the Bears could have waited to try to sign Sweat this offseason, other teams were interested in acquiring him at the deadline. By winning the bidding war, the Bears control his rights going forward and can tag him this offseason should talks stall.

Sweat has all the leverage in contract negotiations. The Bears didn’t give up what right now is slated to be the No. 35 overall pick for nine games of Sweat. It’s a move for the long term. He knows that, and so do the Bears.

It should be easy for the two sides to agree on a long-term deal. Sweat is a top-level, 27-year-old edge rusher with no significant injury history. He will get paid handsomely, and the Bears have the salary cap space to make it happen.

The projected franchise tag for an edge rusher is $20.4 million, while the transition tag is expected to be $15.3 million, per OverTheCap.com.

Either way, the Bears made this move for the right to pay Sweat, and they will do just that. The second-round pick and the $20-plus million AAV contract that comes with Sweat is the price it takes to get better in the NFL.

Poles was right to pay it with his defensive line floundering through eight games and no long-erm answers on the roster.

Last year, Poles traded the Bears’ second-round pick to the Pittsburgh Steelers for wide receiver Chase Claypool. That move promptly blew up in his face. Claypool made it 10 games before the Bears traded him to the Miami Dolphins earlier this month.

The Sweat trade should have a much better outcome. He’s a proven, elite talent at a premium position that the Bears desperately needed to upgrade.

He automatically joins Tremaine Edmunds as a foundational piece of this Bears’ defense, and his arrival should not only boost the production of Ngakoue and Walker but also make life easier on the Bears’ cornerbacks, whoever that might be after Tuesday’s deadline.

You can’t go cheap in the NFL and expect to rise from the basement to the penthouse. You have to pay the tax required to add elite talent, either in free agency or via trade.

Ryan Poles finally showed he understands the price of business, and he will pay for the right piece.

The Montez Sweat trade answered an important question about Poles’ roster-building philosophy and willingness to shell out for top-tier talent.

Now the key question is: What comes next?

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