Grading Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles decision to trade Khalil Mack

The first season of Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Poles is officially over. So, it is a good chance to review the decisions he made now that we have seen the bigger picture. One of the bigger decisions that Poles made was to trade Khalil Mack to the Los Angeles Chargers for a second-round pick and a future sixth-round pick.

Grading Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles’ decision to trade Khalil Mack this offseason

Poles turned the second-round pick into Jaquan Brisker. He will have the sixth-round pick this season. While it has only been one season, it is hard not to look at the trade as a win, just when you look at the numbers.

Below, you can see the salary of each player in the trade. This includes the Chicago Bears eating $24M this season to trade Mack.

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Still, the Chargers got Mack for this season on a nice deal but will be on the books over for $27M the next two seasons. Ryan Poles ate some bad money this year, got the Chicago Bears to pick as high as possible for this draft, and now has Brisker for the next three seasons at about $6M.

Now that this season is over, the trade went from okay from the Bears’ perspective to phenomenal. Mack and the pass rusher as a whole would be more valuable than box safety. Still, they checked off a defensive starter at a very cheap contract, and can now spend that money on younger talent, and players who will be ascending at the same time as Brisker.

The Chicago Bears being able to know that Brisker is a capable starter, and getting through the season that consisted of eating the dead money now has this looking great from the team’s perspective.

It would be hard to be anything but positive about the Chicago Bears’ return for Khalil Mack.

Chicago Bears GM Grade for trading Khalil Mack: A