After the Chicago Bears locked in their final 53-man roster, following all of the shifting and chaos from cutdown day, there is still one obvious hole.
This is nothing new. Fans have clamored for pass rush help all offseason and still haven't gotten it. General manager Ryan Poles has just days remaining before Week 1, now, but there is still time to add talent.
If the Bears took a look around, they'd see some situations that look ripe for a trade. In particular, there could be three possible scenarios that Poles could look into, with a couple of them landing much more prominent names.
Not saying that any of these happen, but they do make a lot of sense.
3 trades the Bears could make to fortify their pass rush before Week 1
1. Bears get Giants to finally cave on Kayvon Thibodeaux
This might be a long shot, because to this point, we haven't seen the Giants willing to budge on Kayvon Thibodeaux. They drafted Arvell Reese and are playing him inside, but the defense is still deep with talent in the edge rush department.
Brian Burns and Abdul Carter are the starters, of course. But Thibodeaux is in the final year of his contract (fifth-year option), and the Giants can't be planning to extend him, right? With so many other guys on the defense who can do the same thing, and others being invested in, it would be shocking to see them bring him back after this season.
So, why keep him? New York isn't going to compete for a Super Bowl this year. It makes sense for the Giants to trade him; more than ever.
Thibodeaux had an 11.5-sack season in Year 2 and has since then dropped off a bit, but there's no doubt the talent is still there. He'd be a perfect pass rusher to go get and place opposite Montez Sweat.
2. Ryan Poles takes risk on a contract year from Baltimore
Bears fans may not know much about Tavius Robinson, but he's another guy going into the final year of his contract. The Ravens paid a fourth-round pick for Robinson to begin with, so they get that back here, and then some.
The Ravens just paid Trey Hendrickson this offseason and then drafted Zion Young in the second round. Robinson might just be expendable. If he is, he'd be a nice mid-tier guy for the Bears to take a flier on. Robinson is coming off a career-best 4.5 sacks last year while playing 65 percent of defensive snaps.
3. Bears embarrass the Packers and snag Josh Sweat
There was a lot of smoke around the Packers potentially trading for Cardinals edge rusher Josh Sweat, but that never ended up happening.
Instead, the Bears going after Sweat would add a little more sting for Packers fans who wanted him in the first place. Of course, Chicago needs him even more than Green Bay does.
Sweat is coming off a year that saw him tally a career-high 12.0 sacks in Arizona last season. He has 37.5 sacks in his last four campaigns, and that's including missing a couple of games as well. The Cardinals aren't going to compete for much of anything, outside of the no. 1 overall pick in 2026, so a deal like this makes a ton of sense on both sides.
Honorable mention: Maxx Crosby departs from the Raiders for a second time
The Raiders tried to deal Crosby earlier in the year, but the Ravens, of course, backed out of that trade, and he returned to Las Vegas. To this point, things have felt more positive, and it seems like Crosby is going to stay with the Raiders.
However, nobody knows what goes on behind closed doors. Maybe there's still a bit of a fracture there after the attempted trade.
Read more: 4 burning questions Bears fans have after latest Kyler Gordon video
There's no doubt Crosby and Caleb Williams have a solid relationship and respect for one another. Becoming teammates would only further ignite the fire in Chicago. Crosby would bring 69.5 career sacks, including four seasons in double digits, to a Bears line that's instantly a threat upon his arrival.
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