This week has been a huge few days in terms of NFL news, and the Chicago Bears decided to join the party on Thursday.
New general manager Ryan Poles knew he had some tough calls ahead, and opted to trade an All Pro, fan favorite and defensive staple for the last four years — Khalil Mack.
The news shocked the football world, but many Bears fans seemed to know something was coming. On Friday, it was also announced that the Bears were going to continue parting with veterans.
Brad Biggs of The Chicago Tribune wrote that the Bears are expected to release veteran starting linebacker Danny Trevathan.
“Linebacker Danny Trevathan, whose play slipped considerably the last two seasons, is expected to be released. The Bears already are carrying $40 million in dead cap space for 2022, and releasing Trevathan would add more than $8.9 million to that figure…”
The Chicago Bears are not messing around as they admit a full-on rebuild is necessary after the Khalil Mack trade.
After trading Mack and acquiring a second rounder this year, a sixth rounder next year, plus a whole lot of cap relief, the Bears are continuing the trend by cutting Trevathan.
It is yet to be known whether or not Trevathan is a post-June 1 cut. If he is, then the Bears actually save roughly $3.28 million, per Over the Cap.
Trevathan was aging and hasn’t been able to stay fully healthy, so this shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise. Now, the real question is, who does Poles bring in to play his other two linebacker spots next to Roquan Smith?
Switching to a 4-3 will require some speed and ability to drop back in coverage, therefore the Bears need to go out and find a pair of linebackers to line up next to the speedy Smith.
Chicago’s cap space grew to about $30 million after the Mack trade, and will grow to over $32 million if Trevathan is a post-June 1 cut. So, they will have a good amount of money to work with. The crazy part, though, is where the Bears will be at next year.
With the Khalil Mack trade, the Chicago Bears are slated to have approx. $121M in cap space in 2023.
One-hundred-and-twenty-one million dollars.
— Laurie Horesh (@LaurieHoresh) March 10, 2022
Poles has the future in mind, clearly. Nothing will stop him from building around quarterback Justin Fields, first and foremost.
