Fit the Bears Into Any Category Except Sellers

Analysis: It's not a situation for the Bears to sell, and they could be buyers if wanted but the price is key.

Last year at this time the trading rush before the deadline included the Bears.

There's every reason to believe the Halloween trade deadline this year will come and go without their participation.

They're no longer the team gutting their salary cap to straighten it out before acquiring new talent.

They are still a team valuing draft picks more than free agency and trades for talent, as GM Ryan Poles stated when hired. So they're not likely to want to trade picks away for players unless it's giving them a younger player who would be better than anyone they could get at the position next draft.

They're trying to learn to compete using a good number of younger or newer players.

They have only a limited number of players carrying value around the league in the market.

It might be more likely they'd move to acquire someone else's player at needed positions, particularly pass rusher. Someone like Brian Burns or Chase Young have been reported on the trading block for much of the time since last March but in both cases if the price asked included a first-round pick, the answer would have to be thanks but no thanks.

The Bears are not in position to give away one of their first-round picks for a player someone else has decided not to pay. They might need both of those picks for specific things, like a quarterback, wide receiver, offensive lineman or even pass rusher.

The main premise in building the team voiced by Ryan Poles when his regime started was the importance of doing it all through the draft.

Free agency or trades are lesser ways to acquire talent and usually less reliable. Players who produced as system fits in other cities might struggle in other places.

The biggest reason the Bears would seem more likely to buy than sell is their coaching/GM situation. If this team had achieved more success on the field at this point they could be more interested in the future and trading. However, winning just five games out of 24 doesn't say things are proceeding as planned. They need whatever talent they have on hand to play together, gel into a team and win more games more than they need to add players for the future. Anyone acquired might be benefiting the next regime.

There are Bears with value to trade for draft picks, but in some cases they're better off with the player than getting picks.

Here are the Bears with the most trade value and reasons why they're most likely to be playing the rest of the season here.

Last year at this time the trading rush before the deadline included the Bears.

There's every reason to believe the Halloween trade deadline this year will come and go without their participation.

They're no longer the team gutting their salary cap to straighten it out before acquiring new talent.

They are still a team valuing draft picks more than free agency and trades for talent, as GM Ryan Poles stated when hired. So they're not likely to want to trade picks away for players unless it's giving them a younger player who would be better than anyone they could get at the position next draft.

They're trying to learn to compete using a good number of younger or newer players.

They have only a limited number of players carrying value around the league in the market.

It might be more likely they'd move to acquire someone else's player at needed positions, particularly pass rusher. Someone like Brian Burns or Chase Young have been reported on the trading block for much of the time since last March but in both cases if the price asked included a first-round pick, the answer would have to be thanks but no thanks.

The Bears are not in position to give away one of their first-round picks for a player someone else has decided not to pay. They might need both of those picks for specific things, like a quarterback, wide receiver, offensive lineman or even pass rusher.

The main premise in building the team voiced by Ryan Poles when his regime started was the importance of doing it all through the draft.

Last year at this time the trading rush before the deadline included the Bears.

There's every reason to believe the Halloween trade deadline this year will come and go without their participation.

They're no longer the team gutting their salary cap to straighten it out before acquiring new talent. 

They are still a team valuing draft picks more than free agency and trades for talent, as GM Ryan Poles stated when hired. So they're not likely to want to trade picks away for players unless it's giving them a younger player who would be better than anyone they could get at the position next draft.

They're trying to learn to compete using a good number of younger or newer players. 

They have only a limited number of players carrying value around the league in the market. 

It might be more likely they'd move to acquire someone else's player at needed positions, particularly pass rusher. Someone like Brian Burns or Chase Young have been reported on the trading block for much of the time since last March but in both cases if the price asked included a first-round pick, the answer would have to be thanks but no thanks.

The Bears are not in position to give away one of their first-round picks for a player someone else has decided not to pay. They might need both of those picks for specific things, like a quarterback, wide receiver, offensive lineman or even pass rusher. 

The main premise in building the team voiced by Ryan Poles when his regime started was the importance of doing it all through the draft. 

Free agency or trades are lesser ways to acquire talent and usually less reliable. Players who produced as system fits in other cities might struggle in other places.

The biggest reason the Bears would seem more likely to buy than sell is their coaching/GM situation. 

If this team had achieved more success on the field at this point they could be more interested in the future and trading. However, winning just five games out of 24 doesn't say things in a rebuild are proceeding as planned. They need whatever talent they have on hand to play together, gel into a team and win more games more than they need to add players for the future. Anyone acquired might be benefiting the next regime.

In short, they need to win some games to keep the new power at Halas Hall, Kevin Warren, believing in where they're going.

There are Bears with value to trade for draft picks, but in some cases they're better off with a player than getting picks. Here are the Bears with the most trade value and reasons why they're most likely to be playing the rest of the season here.

1. QB Justin Fields

Even if you think the Bears can get by with a quarterback throwing 4-yard passes the rest of the year, there's no reason to trade Fields.

He has shown enough improvement to give hope he could still finish the year strong and be the quarterback they move forward with as starter.

His last performance was horrible, no doubt, but also incomplete. He left with almost half a game remaining and a passer rating on the day of 36.7. He easily could have turned that around in a 12-6 game when he left.

The rush to give up on him has been rapid among the social media crowd. He was following his best two passing days with the worst. This has to be an indictment of his abilities, the reasoning goes.

In 2021 Jalen Hurts had passer ratings of 55.8 against Tampa Bay and 17.5 against the Giants. He had a 59.5 passer rating against the Jets this season. Hurts has never had more than three straight 100 passer ratings in his career. Bad happens on occasion. It doesn't take much to cause problems for a quarterback on a given day. Brock Purdy found this out on Monday night in Minnesota and the week before in Cleveland. Take away a couple key receivers and play a team with some weapons on both side of the ball, and good QBs suddenly look mundane awfully fast.

So giving up on Fields before he has had a chance to finish out this year is jumping to conclusions.

They're unlikely to receive what they would want in compensation for Fields if they have decided they didn't want him because it's a low point and not after his two big games, but also because he's injured.

The other point of importance here is they don't have to trade Fields now at all anyway. He's under contract for next year.

This isn't the Roquan Smith situation. So if trading him was something they wanted to explore, it's much more likely to come after he has had a chance to finish out this season trying to prove himself.

2. CB Jaylon Johnson

It's been reported by ESPN the Bears have not pursued trading Johnson and the cornerback himself said his agency is talking to the team about a deal. That shows the Bears don't consider him someone they'd like to part with, and they have plenty of money to pay him.

In fact, if they eventually decide to part ways with Fields their salary cap situation will be wide open for the next four years, or until the quarterback they would draft in the spring would be up for an extension.

Johnson is proving himself now in a way even better than what Smith did last year before he was traded. Smiths' great 2023 season came mostly after the Bears dealt him to Baltimore.

Johnson is a favorite in the locker room and well established like Smith was. Dealing him away rather than paying him what he's worth would send a bigger shockwave through the locker room than Smith's trade did largely because they've played together now for 1 1/2 seasons. It was still only half a season together with Smith.

The other reason you wouldn't want to trade Johnson is injuries. They don't have Eddie Jackson because of a foot injury and Johnson provides veteran leadership they need with so young a group of defensive backs. They don't have cornerback Terell Smith because of mono.

Best estimate on a Johnson contract: $16 million average annual value.

3. S Eddie Jackson

He's injured now, so some of the earlier rumors the Bears might be willing to part with him are really irrelevant now. Besides, Jackson's big contract of $58 million is not going to invite in trading partners. Compounding the injury situation is it is a foot injury and that's what ended his season last year. He's also g

Teams usually don't consider safety a position vital enough to ship out key draft picks for in the middle of a season. In fact, there hasn't been a good (Pro Bowl level), starting safety traded on trade deadline since 2019 when Quandre Diggs got sent by the Lions to the Seahawks. And Diggs had only started two of his four Lions seasons but didn't make the Pro Bowl until a year after going to Seattle.

A fourth-round draft pick originally, Jackson is a month and a half from 30 years old, which doesn't help trade value either.

He's more valuable to the Bears at this point and isn't going to be a free agent next year.

4. WR Darnell Mooney

Mooney after last year might have been a player teams might target in a deal, but since his ankle surgery he hasn't heen piling up big receiving numbers. It's another case where he's worth far more to the Bears at this point than he could be to another team over the next few years -- until he proves he's over the surgery and puts up big games with more than four or five catches.

5. G Cody Whitehair

A stabilizing force but also the third-most expensive player on the payroll. A trade costs the Bears $4.2 million of dead cap space.

They have guards on the roster. His centering left something to be desired. As a result, you'd have to wonder if another team would perceive him as a player worthy of aquiring in a trade.

6. Yannick Ngakoue

An edge rusher who is viewed as more of a sack artist, but he isn't getting sacks. The Bears paid $10.5 million for this year to him and has two sacks, four QB hits and six pressures to show for it. Teams could have signed him in the offseason when interested and the Bears signed him in August.

7. C Lucas Patrick

Versatile but not really playing at a high level, according to Pro Football Focus grades. He's moved up the PFF ladder since last week with a good game, and is now graded the 33rd best center in a 32-team league. It's not really a level of play where teams say they need a go out and trade for a particular player.

8. DT Justin Jones

He is in the final year of a deal and has a sack and four tackles for loss this year but does have seven QB hits and nine pressures. So he is applying some heat. Is it enough to make teams interested?

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