The Chicago Bears once again have cap space and draft capital, and executives around the NFL believe they will make some major splashes with both.
Jeremy Fowler of ESPN recently polled several front office members around the league, posing questions ranging from the landing spots of various big-name quarterbacks to predictions about the immediate futures of varying teams. The query that pertained most specifically to the Bears had to do with former Washington Commanders defensive end and current San Francisco 49ers pass-rusher Chase Young.
“Washington traded its star defensive line bookends at the 2023 trade deadline, with Sweat then thriving as the Chicago Bears’ lead rusher and Young now competing for a Super Bowl with the San Francisco 49ers,” Fowler wrote on Wednesday January 24. “Chicago, in its efforts to bolster its pass rush, evaluated both Young and Sweat in the months leading up to the deadline. Sweat landed a four-year, $98 million extension with the Bears, who could spend more money in free agency to sign a pass-rusher such as Young.”
Chase Young Projected to Sign Affordable Contract After Bounce Back Year in 2023
GettyDefensive linemen Chase Young (left) and Montez Sweat (right), formerly of the Washington Commanders, could reunite with the Chicago Bears in 2024.
Young and Sweat played together for three and a half years in Washington, which selected Young as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2020 NFL draft. Young won Defensive Rookie of the Year honors and made a Pro Bowl that season.
However, injuries marred the defensive end’s next two seasons, during which he appeared in just 12 of 34 total regular-season games. Young’s production dipped significantly as a result, though he authored something of a bounce back campaign in 2023.
Young finished the year with 7.5 sacks, the same amount he tallied during his rookie season. He also upped his QB hits from 12 to 15 and finished the year with a career-high 25 pressures, per Pro Football Reference. He added 7 tackles for loss and 2 pass breakups across 16 games played — the most in any season during his four-year NFL tenure.
The Commanders signed Young to a four-year, $34.56 million rookie deal but chose not to exercise their fifth-year option on the defensive end for the 2024 campaign. As such, Young will hit free agency in March and will likely land with the team that offers him the most competitive contract.
Spotrac projects Young’s market value at just $13.6 million annually over a new two-year deal. If correct, that value indicates that some team will sign the 24-year-old edge defender to a short-term, prove-it contract allowing Young to hit the free agent market again in 2026. Chicago can afford that type of deal, and more, with a projected $49.1 million in available salary cap space as of Wednesday.
Bears Were Interested in Trading for Chase Young at 2023 Deadline
GettyDefensive end Chase Young of the San Francisco 49ers.
There are several reasons why Chicago makes sense as a landing spot for Young.
He is a talented player with first-round pedigree whose career is on an upward trajectory, though he can still feasibly be had at a reasonable price. Young plays a premier position in the league, which also happens to be one of need for the Bears defense. That he would be playing opposite Sweat, a former long-time teammate, would theoretically add to Young’s comfort level in the locker room and ease his transition to this third NFL team in five seasons.
Those are the same reasons the Bears had interest in Young ahead of last year’s October 31 trade deadline. However, Chicago instead pursued Sweat.
Erik Lambert of Sports Mockery in early November cited Jay Glazer of FOX Sports when reporting that the Bears stepped back from negotiations on a deal for Young based on what they felt was a lack of “pertinent medical information.” Young’s collective injuries were perhaps the greatest contributing factor in the Commanders’ decision not to pick up his fifth-year option, which was the No. 1 reason for his departure from Washington in October.
As such, Chicago’s choice to step back and evaluate Young’s play elsewhere appears an appropriate business decision. Now, however, Young has proven himself capable of remaining on the field. Because of that, along with all the aforementioned reasons why he would be a fit with the Bears defense, Young to Chicago this March reads as a likely outcome. Hence, the result of Fowler’s poll of NFL executives Wednesday.
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Bears Predicted to Pair $35 Million Star Edge-Rusher With Montez Sweat in 2024