3 Chicago Bears you could see traded before the 2022 NFL Draft
By Lee Radke
Heading into this months NFL Draft, Ryan Poles is running low on draft capital. With no first-round pick, three picks inside the top 75, and just six picks total, Poles will be wise to choose wisely. Needing to fill several holes on the Chicago Bears’ rebuilding roster, trading down in the draft to gain more picks could be a realistic option for the Chicago Bears brass.
When Poles took the job, he knew that’d he’d have to cut or trade several veteran players to start a roster rebuild. Throughout his last two seasons in Halas Hall, Ryan Pace signed too many overpriced players and traded away too many draft picks. Trading away Khalil Mack, and cutting veterans Danny Trevathan, Tarik Cohen, and Eddie Goldman, Poles began clearing future cap space.
The Chicago Bears are within a rebuild and more players could be traded
Eating $26 million in dead salary cap this season for the Khalil Mack trade, the Bears will be without significant cap space until 2023. Until Poles has the cap space he’s waiting for next offseason, the Chicago Bears are only going to be signing cheap veteran deals in free agency. Set out with the plan to save up cap space and add young talent to the roster around Justin Fields, building this team through the draft must be priority number one for Poles.
As a fan, you have to put yourself in Ryan Poles’ shoes. Wouldn’t you want your “fingerprints” all over your team? Poles wants a full-on reboot, and this “fingerprints factor” surely made it a little easier for him to deal his teams best player to the Chargers.
With the NFL draft now just three weeks away, here are three veteran players I could see being traded before the action in Vegas begins.