3 reasons Chicago Bears had to trade Khalil Mack

2. Chicago Bears needed draft capital

If you have done a mock draft for the Chicago Bears recently you know that they are not very fun. That is because the team has just a second and third-round pick before two fifths and a sixth. That essentially meant that they could add two young possible starters, and then three depth players from the draft.

Considering most teams have seven picks, this is not a great start for a team that claims they want to build through the draft. Ryan Poles was taught to build through the draft but he was staring down the reality that to fill his roster, he would have to go for a plethora of free agents.

Ryan Pace left the roster with a lot of holes and little cap space or draft capital to fill it. The easiest way to get cap space and draft capital is to trade one of your better players for as high of a draft pick as possible.

A second-round pick is not great, but fans have to remember that the Bears are getting off $34M in cap space over the next two seasons. A majority of that comes in 2023, but 2023 will also be when their two second-round picks hit year two with new coaching.

Ryan Pace traded up traded future picks, and often did not worry about when it could catch up to him. That is what got him in this mess, and Ryan Poles is stopping the train by adding draft picks and cutting costs. Do not be surprised if he also uses one of his second-round picks to trade back and add a few more young assets.