Bear Digest

Bears labeled a landing spot for Myles Garrett despite problems

One prominent NFL analyst says the Bears are among the best places for a trade of Myles Garrett but the cold, hard facts could say something different.
Gene Chamberlain|
Myles Garrett wants out of Cleveland but contrary to some experts' claims, Chicago doesn't look like a good landing spot.
Myles Garrett wants out of Cleveland but contrary to some experts' claims, Chicago doesn't look like a good landing spot. | Ken Blaze-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

As someone with connections to Chicago, NFL.com's Eric Edholm should know better.

The NFL.com analyst has labeled the Bears and also the Packers among the top places for Myles Garrett to wind up if the Browns were to grant his wish and make a trade.

"The Bears' pass rush—and defense as a whole—was a disappointment this season," Edholm wrote. "They had 40 sacks, which put them around the middle of the pack in the league, but their leading sacker (Montez Sweat) had just 5.5 of them. It's not hard to see how Garrett would provide an upgrade up front, especially given Chicago's issues against the run, too." 

It's a great way to get clicks because anything about trades always has Chicago fans all over it. And perhaps that's why Edholm did it. But there are good reasons this kind of thing is impossible for the Bears.

ESPN's Adam Schefter even throws the Bears in that list but he also should definitely know better.

Let's take the opportunity of this shocking NFL trade demand to educate the massive number of Bears fans who think they're watching Major League Baseball or the NBA and don't realize the ramifications of trades in football.

Garrett demands a trade. The reaction on social media from Bears fans is predictable. It might be more predictable than fans demanding the head of the offensive coordinator after the first game when the offense struggles.

This might be more difficult now with Ben Johnson calling his own plays, but someone will do it.

Not that Garrett wouldn't make the Bears or any other team dangerous. He made one Sunday afternoon very miserable for Justin Fields in 2021.

The reason this trade and many of the others can't be made in the NFL is simple.

It can best be summed up this way: You're not going to go out and buy that second Rolls Royce when you're living in a van down by the river.

1. Salary Cap

There is a salary cap in the NFL and it's a much harder cap than some other sports because of how the league structured it. It's possible to live right on that cap line and make moves to stay under it, but not when you're talking about trading $100 million players.

The cap doesn't let you trade someone outright. NFL guaranteed signing bonuses don't count entirely against a salary cap when the contract is signed. It is prorated over the life of the contract to count smaller amounts against the cap and let players sign players. But when they trade a player, the entire amount of guaranteed cash divided over the length of the contract immediately accelerates against their cap.

You're going to need to be really committed and in good shape against the cap to pull off a trade.

Sure, the Bears can handle a cap hit for a deal like Garrett's. They're up around $54 million in effective cap space. But the Browns can't.

According to Overthecap.com, the Browns would eat an immediate $36 million dead cap pie if they traded Garrett.

Considering they have $31.5 million in effective cap space for all of 2025, eating $36 million for getting rid of a player tends to make plans for improving your roster a bit difficult. It probably means you're giving up on the season before it starts.

It's probably the main reason Browns GM Andrew Berry says they're not trading Garrett, but not the only reason.

2. Bears Cap Situation

Garrett says he wants to go somewhere so he can win a Super Bowl.

Get in line, bub. So does everyone.

The Bears are not a place someone wants to go if they want a chance to immediately win a Super Bowl. Getting over .500 or to the playoffs has to be the next Bears goal.

Sure, the occasional Washington Commanders happens. The Houston Texans of 2023 happens. Neither got to a Super Bowl, though.

The Bears are about building this thing to become like Kansas City. Going after another pass rusher is fine. They've needed one since before it became apparent last year that adding Montez Sweat only solved part of the problem. They just hoped the problem would go away by claiming last year that defensive tackles would make up for this. Of course it didn't make up for it.

The big Bears money already went to Sweat for an edge player. Teams do not pay $25 million for two edge rushers. There isn't enough cap space for this even with a team that has a quarterback who is on his first contract.

This makes your two highest-paid players defensive ends. No team in the league has a disparity close to this. The closest you'll find is Pittsburgh, which pays T.J. Watt $28 million a year and then has the 17th-highest paid edge in Preston Smith at only $13 million a year.

The Chargers tried this in a way in 2024, but having Khalil Mack and Joey Bosa wasn't quite like having two $25 million edge players. Neither one hit $21 million.

There just isn't enough cash available for teams to focus on one position with big paydays like this. If they did it, they would be playing with trash at other positions.

The Bears on defense are already paying Tremaine Edmunds and Jaylon Johnson at high rates. They've got Sweat as No. 1 at $25 million and if they tried including him in the trade to get

They've decided to pay Montez Sweat $25 million a year. Bringing on another player at that rate isn't feasible.

3. Current Course

Considering the limitation of the cap and their own current situation, the Bears need to focus their money on the offensive line.

They've just gone through a season when they got the prize quarterback sacked 68 times.

They have a running attack ranked near the bottom of the league.

They just brought in a head coach who is from the offensive side and needs additions on the offensive side, especially the line, in order to make his plans work.

People are demanding offense from this team, which has been terrible on that side of the ball since Marc Trestman was fired.

And they're going to go out and trade for another $25 million-a-year edge rusher?

Edholm even mentions all of this himself.


"Bears fans certainly would love to have Garrett after watching him notch a career-high 4.5 sacks (in just 37 snaps) in a game against Chicago in 2021,' Edholm wrote. "But new head coach Ben Johnson also needs to build around QB Caleb Williams this offseason, especially on the offensive line. Would a Garrett trade hinder those efforts?"

Yah think?

It's not happening in a million years. If it does, they need to fire Poles. He has already tied them to Sweat with the trade for a second-round pick and a contract equal to what the best defensive ends get.

You're not going out and buying that second Rolls Royce until you can afford not to live in that van down by the river.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.