The most likely path for the Chicago Bears to acquire Russell Wilson

What a Chicago Bears trade could look like for Russell Wilson

Now that we have covered the setup, we will get into the weeds of the details of a possible Russell Wilson to the Chicago Bears trade. The Bears must give the defensive-minded head coach of the Seahawks, Pete Carroll, a big carrot to get trade talks started for Russell Wilson. I would have the Bears include Roquan Smith in their initial trade offer. However, I would also insist the Seahawks include Bobby Wagner along with Wilson to send to the Bears.

This offer to swap the two linebackers sets up the Bears to possibly back off the demand to include Wagner in the deal and use this as a tactic to possibly close the deal. Using a Roquan for Wagner exchange also gives the Bears an out to take Roquan off the table and replace him with another player or draft pick during negotiations.

As alluded to earlier, including Roquan Smith in their opening is also a tactic to get the Seahawks to at least start to talk trade. Any good salesperson will tell you once someone crosses a major line into a serious negotiation, you are more likely than not to be more than halfway to making the deal. The reason is the person who needed a push into talking deal once they cross a certain line in negotiations will start to talk themselves into finding a way to make the deal.

The value to Seattle of swapping linebackers is it gives the Seahawks a comparable, maybe even more gifted talent, who is also six years younger and will save them 7.4 million in cap space. If this part of the deal goes through, It will be more than a bit ironic. Reason being that many believed Roquan Smith earned a Pro Bowl slot over Wagner since Smith had better stats than Wagner.

The value of Roquan Smith for Bobby Wagner has to be worth at least a 2021 second-round pick or even a late 2021 1st round pick. Another possible trade commodity from the Bears is Nick Foles. If Seattle is not interested in Alex Smith, the Bears should offer Nick Foles to be used as either a bridge QB for a rookie or a backup.

Now we get to the actual draft picks going to Seattle. The Bears will very likely need to add a 2022 first-round pick. Swapping linebackers, the Bears will also need to add a 2022 second-round pick or a 2023 first-round pick.

How far the Bears go in further sweetening the pot will depend on whether the three other teams on Wilson’s list of teams is interested in talking trade after June 1st. Of the three, the Cowboys and the Saints seem highly unlikely to be able to stop on a dime and make a post-June 1 trade for 32 million dollar quarterback. However, if Jon Gruden is so inclined, the Raiders could swap Derek Carr for Russell Wilson and try to make it work with the Raiders’ salary cap.

The Raiders would gain 19.6 million by trading Derek Carr post-June 1. However, the addition of Russell Wilson would in the end also add 12.4 million to the Raiders cap space. The Raiders are going into this offseason with 4.7 million in cap space.

However, they also need to fill the roster spots of five starting positions, eight primary backups and three additional backup roles. The Raiders would have to do a lot of preparation as the Bears and Seahawks would have to do for the Raiders to become serious bidders for Wilson after June 1st.