The Chicago Bears sent shockwaves across the NFL landscape when they traded Khalil Mack for a couple of draft picks. It showed Bears fans that the team is likely opening the window for 2023 and using 2022 to load up and get things in the right direction.
Considering Mack is gone some fans may be thinking that a firesale is coming. That could mean that stud pass rusher Robert Quinn is going to join Khalil Mack. While anything is possible, it seems unlikely that Robert Quinn will join Khalil Mack.
3. Robert Quinn does not save as much, or cost as much
In trading the Chicago Bears, they were trading salaries more than the player. Mack was making $30 million against the salary cap, which put him at a standing that only star quarterbacks were making more.
The Chicago Bears are still eating about $24M of that, but the key is that they save $28.5M next year, and $26.5 million the year after. Again, that is like the team has a high-end quarterback on salary.
For Robert Quinn, the hits are not as drastic. This year, he is on the books for about $17.1M. The following years are $18.2M, and $17.2M, so roughly $10M less than what Mack was making. That is much more bearable. Beyond that, they would only save $4M this season, compared to the $6M that they saved moving on from Mack.
So, Quinn is costing about $13M less than Mack and would save them $2M less than what Mack just did. Where fans can say that the compensation of Mack was impacted by his salary, you could not say the same thing about Robert Quinn if he were traded.
2. Would Chicago Bears get better compensation for Robert Quinn?
As noted, the team taking on Quinn would be taking on less money than the Chargers did with Khalil Mack. They also are not saving as much, so they should want better compensation. That is unlikely to happen.
To start, fans know that the name Khalil Mack rings stronger than Robert Quinn, The upside of defensive player of the year is there. Beyond that Mack is a year younger than Quinn. Mack draws attention, while teams will try to lowball for Quinn.
The Bears would have to get better compensation to move on from Quinn given the salary cap differences, but at the same time, you could argue that Quinn is a better asset as well. His 18.5 sacks were unreal last season but on top of that, he has two 10 sacks seasons in the past three years. That is two seasons more than Mack has had in that same span.
It comes off as surprising to say that Quinn has been better but the past three years at least have the two closer than you would think. When you add in the massive salary differences you can understand why Chicago wanted to trade Mack more. They were going to get a better haul and save more money. Unless they get a serious haul it is not as worth it to them.
1. Chicago Bears still need starters
One big reason why trading Khalil Mack made sense was that Trevis Gipson may be ready to blossom into a starter. Ryan Poles likely saw it when reviewing the tape of last season. With all of the time that Mack missed due to injury, the Bears got a strong look at Robert Quinn across from Trevis Gipson and the duo worked. So, it was easy to get Mack out of the equation when he already saw it on tape. Adding in the other factors such as cost and return made it even better.
Mack was the odd man out but that does not mean that there is a firesale. It means that they like what they saw from Quinn and Gipson. The team still needs two starters at pass rusher.
They may not be all-in looking to add any player to win the Super Bowl, but this is still a team that is going to field a competitive roster and try hard while looking to instill a culture.
That does not mean completely emptying the cupboards. It meant getting a veteran out of the way to let a young player start. Now that the log jam is gone, and the edge depth chart looks fine still, it would not make sense to tear it out down more.
All that would do is create a hole that you need to spend, or need to find another draft pick to replace. With Mack, the depth moved up, but with Quinn, a starter would need to be replaced. That is a big difference.
The fact that Quinn has been more productive and cheaper than Mack also adds into the decision. Overall, there is too much going for Quinn that was not going in the right direction for Khalil Mack. They chose to trade Mack over Quinn, not trade both in a teardown.