The Chicago Bears are sitting at 2-6, but here they are buying at the trade deadline. The team added pass rusher Montez Sweat from the Washington Commanders in exchange for their second-round pick. The move can be justified in so many ways but questioned in just as many. Let's go through the debate.
Smart Reason 3. Montez Sweat is an instant upgrade for the Chicago Bears
Nobody is denying that the Chicago Bears upgraded their defensive line with this move. Montez Sweat has 6.5 sacks this season, and the rest of the Bears edge rushers have five. He has one fewer tackle for loss and two fewer quarterback hits than the entire room.
He has 27 pressures per PFF, which would lead the entire Bears roster. Yannick Ngakoue has 22. His pass rush productivity score is 7.7, while the DeMarcus Walker leads the Bears at 5.2. Lastly, his pass rush win rate is 10.6%, which beats Walker at 9% and Ngakoue who is at 5.3%. Nobody on the line is close to as good as him.
The Chicago Bears saw that firsthand when he battled Darnell Wright all game in week five. Sweat usually goes against right tackles, and Ngakoue has lined up on left tackles, so you would assume Walker is seeing his role shrink. However, he is also going back to his old role of sliding inside more, which he has hardly done this season.
The Bears can line up Sweat, Walker, Gervon Dexter, and Ngakoue in pass-down looks, and it will be the best group they have had all year. This is why they made the trade.