Chicago Bears Who Could Be Traded

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This week’s trades of OLB Jared Allen and ILB Jon Bostic could be the beginning of a rebuilding era for the Chicago Bears. At 0-3 with injuries to Jay Cutler, Alshon Jeffery, and Kevin White, the Bears just don’t have the talent to compete with the better teams in the NFL and unfortunately with the Bears schedule that is pretty much all they play.

I think the new Bears brass realizes that this season is a lost cause and they are turning their focus to the future. I agree 100% that this should be their strategy. It’s not easy to rebuild in the NFL though and a bunch of 6th round picks isn’t going to move the needle much, but having multiple picks gives the Bears more flexibility to make deals on draft day and also increases the odds that they hit on a late round pick or two.

The biggest failure of the last two regimes was not developing enough homegrown talent. In a perfect world the Bears would be able to restock their roster by trading veterans for high draft picks, but the reality is that their available veteran talent isn’t getting them anything more than day 3 selections. Even day 3 picks have value and by loading up on them the Bears new leadership team has the chance to stock the roster with low price talent that fit their preferred style of play better than the current roster does.

The NFL trade deadline isn’t until week 8, so the Bears have plenty of time to make additional moves. Unfortunately the salary cap makes it difficult to deal at this point of the season with most teams fairly close against the cap. The Bears could eat some money on an existing deal to facilitate the trade, but I’m sure they want to limit paying for other team’s players as much as possible.

I went through the Bears roster and identified six players I think have a chance to be moved before this year’s deadline. If you disagree or think a player not listed will be dealt instead, let me know in the comments or on Twitter.

RB Matt Forte

This pains me to even type as Forte has been one of my favorite Bears the last few seasons, but he will be 30 this year and is in the last year of his contract. It could be awhile before the Bears are good again and by the time it happens, Forte will most likely be over the hill. Right now he is easily one of the ten best RBs in the league, but does it make sense to keep him for the last few years of his career when the Bears probably won’t be competitive?

Forte is one of the Bears most valuable trade pieces and he could bring back an early day 3 pick or perhaps a young player with upside. The more draft picks or young players the Bears can add in trades, the sooner they can get back to respectability. Keeping Forte also gives the Bears a better chance to win games this year, which may not be in the team’s best long term interest if they are serious about rebuilding. It will suck watching the Bears play without Forte this season, but he deserves to end his career on a decent team. Moving Forte to a contender in return for a 4th-5th round pick would be a win for both sides.