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The Good Reasons to Rekindle Bears and Dexter Lawrence Discussion

ESPN's Adam Schefter gave out a much lower assessment of the massive defensive tackle's trade value and the price is sure to catch the interest of Bears fans.
Gene Chamberlain|
Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence leads his team onto the field against the Eagles.
Defensive tackle Dexter Lawrence leads his team onto the field against the Eagles. | Eric Hartline-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The possibility of Dexter Lawrence being traded to the Bears quieted down for a day or two but there's no reason this should happen with the draft approaching.

If anything, it should heat up and it seems like it is.

At least, there's no more reason it should be less of a possibility than it ever was. Although the overall chances seem remote because of the lack of salary cap space facing the Bears now, and even in 2027.

There are other reasons to think it could still happen despite the empty wallet currently staring Bears GM Ryan Poles in the face. Here's why the drumbeat can still be heard. And it's getting louder.

1. The visit

The Giants this week had a visitor at their complex. It was defensive tackle D.J. Reader, according to the New York Post's Paul Schwartz.

Reader is a veteran defensive tackle and nose tackle who is 330 pounds and ideal as a plug in the middle.

The Giants need someone at the position for their 3-4 scheme.

It's widely known the Giants want to add defensive line help after they were 31st against the run and last in yards allowed per rush. Just a stray thought, but if Lawrence is such a force and played throughout last season without missing a game, why would he be considered such a dominant player? Yet, he is thought of this way.

It's possible Giants could add Reader, the former Lions lineman who was Pro Football Focus' 21st best free agent. The market value on him now, according to PFF, is $4.5 million a season. If the Giants use the draft to add a defensive lineman and sign Reader, they probably wouldn't even necessarily need Lawrence.

Giants' need

Schwartz on Thursday reported Leonard is “done with the Giants.” Of course, they might decide otherwise because he’s under contract for two more years.

New Giants defensive coordinator Dennard Wilson is a 3-4 guy and the Giants also used 3-4. However, the nose tackle in the scheme is a big, hunker down type of player who occupies double-team blocks rather than attacking. He had 360-pound T'Vondre Sweat doing this in Tennessee.  

While Lawrence could definitely do this, it seems a huge waste of his talents and of your own salary cap to have an attacking lineman battle every down against double teams  just to take blockers away for his teammates. Lawrence is at his best as an attacker despite being 340, as his sack numbers say.

Reader would better fit that road-block duty. Putting Lawrence at one of the defensive end spots in the 3-4 doesn't seem to make sense. Wilson usually had players around 300 pounds manning those in Tennessee, such as 305-pound Jeffery Simmons and Carlos Watkins, and 300-pound Shy Tuttle.

Sure, Lawrence could do whatever he wants with his talent and size, but making him into a block eater looks like a total waste of his time and talent.

No Talks

Jim Leonard  of the New York Daily News reported the talks between the Giants and Lawrence had “broken off,” which is more serious than an impasse.

It’s a reason for a report Thursday saying the three-time Pro Bowl defensive tackle is "done with the Giants."

Trade compensation

When reports first surfaced of this, it was suggested in numerous reports that a first- and second-round pick would be the asking price from the Giants. This was tied to what the Jets got when they traded Quinnen Williams.

ESPN's Adam Schefter had a much more realistic price and one that would have to be like ringing the dinner bell.

Speaking on ESPN-Milwaukee, Shefter came up with something quite different.

"My guess is a two and a five," Schefter said. "That's my sense of what it would take. I don't know that it's right.

"I had somebody suggest to me, 'Oh, they think it would be a first-round pick.' I don't know that anybody is trading a first-round pick for a 28-year-old defensive tackle who wants more money who is coming off, by his standards, a down year. I don't see that."

He could have thrown in a shoulder injury he played through, as well.

The Bears have two second-round picks and a fourth-round pick. They could use their first-rounder for a safety if one is available then, use one of the seconds for an edge or a defensive back, or vice versa. And they could devote a second-rounder to acquire Lawrence.

The competition

The Bears need to be worried because much speculation about Giants trade partners has focused on the Vikings, who are short on defensive tackles, and now the Packers. Schefter told ESPN-Milwaukee he could envision the Packers making a run to add to their front that already has Micah Parsons on the outside.

The Bears can sit there and let their rivals get stronger or pursuit themselves.

The cap and timing

The salary cap is an issue, no doubt. But the Bears still haven't tapped into several contracts they could restructure. There are good reasons for this, such as contracts coming in the next few years for Darnell Wright, possibly Gervon Dexter and finally Caleb Williams.

If they're going to start restructuring deals and paying out money into the future to players who could be gone in a few years, like Jaylon Johnson and Montez Sweat, then they have to get used to the idea they might have cap problems created by dead cap in the future.

However, if they do work out the cash for this year's cap, the future might not include Joe Thuney in a few years as he's already getting older for a guard. They might not want Jonah Jackson or other players like Cole Kmet. The cap space could take care of itself with those players departing in the future.

It's all probably pointless, as Poles doesn't seem to want to get the team back into the cap space hell it was in under former GM Ryan Pace, but with Williams still working on a rookie deal a good argument can be made to take a shot at it all now because it could be to difficult in the future when the QB is costing them $60 million a year or more.

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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.

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