Bears General Manager Ryan Poles appears to have made a wise decision in acquiring Montez Sweat and signing him.
Sweat was acquired by the Bears in a trade with Washington on Oct. 31, costing Chicago a second-round pick. Only four days later, the Poles signed him to a four-year, $98-million extension, and he has quickly established himself as a cornerstone player for an improving defense.
The 27-year-old edge rusher consistently puts pressure on quarterbacks, who are no longer free to exploit an inexperienced secondary. Sweat has three and a half sacks in five games with the Bears, assisting them in developing some swagger.
Since the trade, the Bears have gone 3-2, raising their record to 5-8. They have only a remote chance of making the wild card race, but it is much easier to envision them as contenders in 2024, whether their quarterback is Justin Fields or Caleb Williams.
By acquiring Sweat, the Poles brought order back to a defense that had been in disarray since the mid-season trades of Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn in 2022. The Bears were allowing 27.3 points per game before adding Sweat, but that number has dropped to 18.2.
They finished last in the NFL in 2022 with 20 sacks and have only had 10 in their first eight games this season. But times have changed dramatically.
The Bears have 11 sacks in their last four games, including four on Jared Goff in last Sunday’s 28-13 win over Detroit. They’ve had multiple sacks in all four games this season.
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Yannick Ngakoue, the Bears’ team sack leader, broke his ankle in that win over the Lions. Ngakoue has four sacks after signing a one-year contract before the season. He has a half-sack advantage over Sweat and tackle Justin Jones.
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Poles passed up the top edge rushers a year ago in order to draft offensive tackle Darnell Wright and defensive tackle Gervon Dexter with his first two picks. Poles effectively declared that by investing a second-round pick in Sweat, he will again pass on the top rushers in the 2024 draft.
Sweat’s extension appears to have some future significance for the defense. It allows the Poles to use the franchise tag on cornerback Jaylon Johnson if the two sides cannot agree on an extension terms again.
The Bears are expected to have enough salary cap space to retain Johnson at the franchise price of around $20 million. The Bears considered trading Johnson in the middle of the season, even giving him permission to speak with other teams, but were not offered what it would have taken to do so.
Johnson is currently rated as the best cornerback in the NFL by Pro Football Focus. He is ranked first in pass coverage, ahead of DaRon Bland of the Cowboys, Sauce Gardner of the Jets, and Rasul Douglas of the Bills.
According to the website Spotrac, the team will have at least $63 million in cap space after this season, and that figure will almost certainly increase when the NFL and the union calculate the totals for 2024.
They could save about $22 million by releasing veterans Eddie Jackson and Cody Whitehair, who are nearing the end of their contracts. They are owed a total of $31.39 million next season, which could be exchanged for $9.68 million in dead cap space.
Jackson is in his seventh season as a starter for Chicago, but he has missed 10 games in the previous two years. PFF ranks him 70th out of 91 qualifying safeties. The Bears would almost certainly have to draft or sign a replacement for him, as there is no obvious heir apparent on the roster.
It will be easier to address such issues now that the Sweat trade has filled a huge void. That trade appeared to be the turning point in the Bears’ defense.
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