(670 The Score) The start of free agency in mid-March will reveal more about the Bears’ future direction.
If they’ve active and aggressive early in adding veteran help on lucrative contracts, it will signal a desire to win sooner rather than later. If they sit back and stay out of the sweepstakes for the top-tier talent, it will signal that new general manager Ryan Poles and his front office believe a rebuild is a longer-term project.
If the latter path is the one the Bears choose and they’re willing to admit they have a long-term rebuild on their hands, a possible trade of star edge rusher Khalil Mack will also become more of a consideration, as Tribune reporter Brad Biggs explained on the Mully & Haugh Show on Friday.
“If they’re going to admit they’re in the beginning stages of a rebuild, I think you have to consider every way possible to add to the draft capital,” Biggs said. “They’ve currently got five picks, and they need a younger core of players. They’ve got a small core of players on the roster that you’d look at and say, ‘Hey, this guy could be a really good performer for this team by the time it’s able to be in contention again.’ And they started last season with the second-oldest roster in the NFL. So they’ve got to get younger and they’ve got to get better.”
If the Bears were to trade Mack, what could they potentially get for him? It’s a question Biggs has been asking many individuals at the NFL Combine in Indianapolis this week, and the answers have varied. A lot of it has to do with whether the Bears pick up the tab for Mack’s $5.5-million bonus in a couple weeks. If they do that, a potential acquiring team would owe Mack only his $12-million base salary in the 2022 season, which would make him a more desirable trade asset.
Mack, 31, only played in seven games in 2021, tallying six sacks. He had nine sacks in 16 games in 2020, when he earned second-team All-Pro honors from the Associated Press. His contract runs through the 2024 season.
“Paying down part of that could help them get a better return,” Biggs said. “I talked to one guy right at the end of the season and said, ‘Boy, if they tried to trade Mack, what do you think they could get?’ And he’s like, ‘I don’t know, he’s been banged up, he’s still obviously excellent when healthy.’ And the guy thought maybe a second-round pick and then the Bears and whoever they’re trading him to could maybe haggle over a late-round pick to be part of the package too.
“And then I talked to a guy the other night here in Indianapolis and he thought if the Bears were in a position where they’d pay down part of the deal that maybe, possibly it could sort of match the template that was used in the Von Miller deal between Denver and LA. But there could be a team that values Khalil Mack more. I don’t think the Bears are in a spot where they’re going to get a first-round pick back for Khalil Mack. I could be wrong, but that’s just my assessment of the situation right now. And who knows? Maybe Matt Eberflus wants to make him the centerpiece of this new 43 scheme.
“If you got a second- and a third-rounder for him, just hypothetically speaking, now the Bears would have two second-round picks and two third-round picks and you’d feel better about their chance to get some guys who could come in and help them get this thing rolling.”
The Rams traded a second-rounder and a third-rounder to the Broncos to acquire Miller this past season.