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Bear Digest

Why Safety and Not Edge Could Be Bears Target After Restructured Deals

Edge rusher remains a position where the Bears could use help and they've made moves to help their cap status, with one player a likely payroll addition.
Gene Chamberlain|
Maxx Crosby and Josh Sweat get mentioned as possible Bears trade targets but cold, hard cash says that's not realistic.
Maxx Crosby and Josh Sweat get mentioned as possible Bears trade targets but cold, hard cash says that's not realistic. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

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Chicago Bears

Before getting your hopes up for a Bears roster move as a result of Friday's restructuring of contracts, consider their situation.

A trade would appear unlikely unless it brings in a very low-cost player in return, possibly someone who another team planned to waive after bringing back a player from their IR.

For one, we're already so close to the regular season now that deals are more likely to come after teams see their teams on the field, and maybe then not for Sweat until just before the trade deadline.

Field Yates of ESPN did report the Bears had cleared away $17 million in 2026 salary cap space by restructuring deals for Joe Thuney, Dayo Odeyingbo and T.J. Edwards. This type of figure gets all kinds of rumors flying about preparing to trade for the Raiders' Maxx Crosby or even Arizona's Josh Sweat.

The problem is that $17 million doesn't provide much cap space when you're already $12 million over the cap, as Jason Fitzgerald wrote for Overthecap.com.

The moves were essentially made to get the Bears under the salary cap as the league mandates, and also to provide an operating fund.

In olden days, former Bears GM Jerry Angelo would always say he needed to keep a small amount under the cap for operating emergencies during the season. That's what almost $5 milion is for after they square away the accounts. They might need to sign someone who has experience in case of an injury, and they would command more than the minimum.

Also, there's another deduction coming for the Bears to spend what they've managed to squirrel away with these restructured deals. The edge rusher they have to pay off that cap total is defensive end Marcus Davenport when they do move him on the 53-man roster. He was cut, and then put on the practice squad where he gets only $411,000 while he "ramps up."

That's money not counting against their low 51 for the cap. When he gets his real contract, they'll need to count it against the cap. When Davenport gets whatever they're going to pay him to be on the 53-man, presumably closer to the $2.5 million he got in Detroit last year, the Bears will have even less available cap space but will have veteran edge rush support.

Other factors weigh against big names for Bears

It's always possible to make trades for players with expiring contracts and push new deals for them into the future, but trading for Sweat isn't one of those situations. His current contract is good into 2028 and his cap hit for this year $16.3 million. His salary of $9.8 million is guaranteed.
Crosby's deal is through 2029 with guaranteed salaries through 2027.

The real problem with both of those players is there are other teams in better circumstances to make such a deal.

The Cowboys just restructured three contracts to free up $19 million in cap space, according to ESPN's Todd Archer. They have the fourth-most cap space available at around $25 million. It sure sounds like someone is getting ready for a move there. The rumors about Crosby to Dallas won't die down.

The rumors about Sweat were for an NFC North team getting him but not the Bears. His former defensive coordinator with the Eagles and Cardinals is Packers defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon. The Packers and Cardinals are coached by the LaFleur brothers. The Packers have space available for such a move, as Overthecap.com has them at $16.3 million, but Packers GM Brian Gutekunst said such talks are "coming out of thin air." They haven't talked to the Cardinals about Sweat.

People say lots of things. If any team seems to be a natural for Sweat, it's the Packers because of the injury to Micah Parsons.

Either way, neither is coming to Chicago as an edge rusher and the Chicago cash situation probably means no one is coming beyond Davenport at a little over the veteran's minimum.

Where help is really needed

They really need the help at safety and not as much at edge rusher, anyway. They're going into the season starting rookie Dillon Thieneman but not at the safety spot they intended. He was supposed to be the deep safety. They'll have Cam Lewis at that spot, instead, and he's not the versatile type coveted by coordinator Dennis Allen at only 183 pounds. They can use a heavy hitter who is a safety.

The Bears are going to be getting by in the secondary without ideal talent and making do with what they have at edge rusher, which might actually be better than many say because they're expecting the interior rush to be better and complement the edge rush better.

It's one of the big gambles they've taken with their offseason player acquisition, and this course has been very apparent for them since before they ever agreed to bring in Davenport.

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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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