Robert Quinn is coming off one of the best defensive performances in recent memory for the Chicago Bears.
Quinn set the team’s single-season sack record last year with 18.5, also finishing with 17 tackles-for-loss, four forced fumbles and 22 quarterback hits in 16 games — but his days in the Windy City could be numbered.
New general manager Ryan Poles made his intentions clear when he traded Khalil Mack and released veteran players like Eddie Goldman and Danny Trevathan: The Bears are prioritizing unloading weighty contracts and aging players with the aim of getting younger and adding money to their salary cap.
According to top Bears insider Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, Quinn, who has a cap hit of $17,137,500 million in 2022, looks destined to be traded. The question seems to be a matter of when it happens.
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Biggs: Quinn Could Be Traded Before Draft or in August
“This figures to be a situation in which GM Ryan Poles is able to pull off a deal shortly before the draft or the Bears wait to see if another team develops a pressing need in August or during the first two months of the season,” Biggs wrote on April 13. “I have to imagine — and this is just a hunch — that Poles wants to turn any assets on the roster that are not part of the long-term vision into additional draft capital.”
Quinn, who turns 32 in May, has a base salary of $12.8 million in 2022, and Biggs thinks his contract won’t be difficult to move considering the Bears have paid him all of the $30 million that was guaranteed to him when he inked a $70 million deal with them in 2020. “All of the guaranteed money in his contract was tied up in the first two years, so that will make trading him — if the Bears go that route — easier,” Biggs wrote, also noting that if Chicago may want to wait until the preseason rolls around to shop Quinn.
“I wonder if the Bears could get more in return if they wait for a contending team to have a need,” Biggs added. “In that scenario, some level of risk would be involved because Quinn will have to remain healthy. It would certainly make sense, when looking at what Poles has done so far, for the team to pursue a trade for Quinn at some point.”
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Quinn’s Trade Value Is Prime Heading Into 2022 Season
Quinn had a down season due to lingering injuries his first year with Chicago in 2020. He had just 2.0 sacks and six QB hits in 548 total snaps in 2020, per PFF, but he rebounded in a big way last year. Healthy in 2021, he played 755 snaps, finishing with the 18.5 sacks, the second-highest total of his career, in addition to 25 hurries and four QB hits. Considering his age, his trade value may never be higher.
The money might matter quite a bit here, too. If Quinn is traded after June 1, the Bears would have a dead cap hit of $4,237,500, via OTC, whereas if they were to trade him before that date, the dead cap hit would balloon to over $12.7 million.
Poles told The Athletic’s Adam Jahns in March trade talks for Quinn hadn’t “come up,” but he didn’t outright refute the idea.
If Quinn were to get injured in practice or a workout leading up to the season, obviously, his trade value would plummet, as Biggs noted — but if he stays healthy, the veteran pass rusher is clearly one of the best remaining trade chips the team has and it’s looking more and more like he could be moved in August or shortly after.
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