Predicting 5 key Chicago Bears moves after Khalil Mack tradeRyan Heckmanon March 12, 2022 at 1:00 pm

General manager Ryan Poles may be in his first year, but he proved he wasn’t afraid to make a tough decision as he traded star pass rusher Khalil Mack.

The Bears dealt Mack to the Los Angeles Chargers for multiple draft picks, including a 2022 second rounder and 2023 third rounder.

Most importantly, the Bears received some significant cap relief going forward. Now, the real work begins. The Bears are not done making moves, but some positive moves are now possible because of this blockbuster trade.

Ryan Poles and the Chicago Bears must move forward with wise decisions after the Khalil Mack trade.

Some may see this deal as a negative, however the reality was, the Bears were never going to win a Super Bowl this year — or even next.

Trading Mack allowed a bit more flexibility this year, when it comes to the draft, and next year when it comes to the cap. Still, after this trade, the Bears have approximately $30 million in cap space.

Extending a guy like Roquan Smith will be a key move the Bears need to make, and maybe Poles can put a larger part of the guaranteed money into 2023, where the Bears will have over $120 million in space.

Using the cap space this year on positions of need should be a priority, so long as those players can give the Bears several years of productivity.

Now that the Mack trade is done with, these are five moves that seem very possible for the Bears going forward.