Over the weekend, the Chicago Bears’ reported pursuit of star pass rusher Maxx Crosby ended when the Las Vegas Raiders traded him to the Baltimore Ravens in exchange for heavy draft compensation. The Bears now will have to pivot and look elsewhere for help along the defensive line.
Many suspected that last week’s trade of DJ Moore to the Buffalo Bills might have been a mechanism to clear space for Crosby, but clearly, that did not end up coming to pass, and now, more information is coming to light about just how close the Bears got to trading for the star, per Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.
“The Chicago Bears monitored the situation, but the sense was they weren’t major players in the end,” reported Fowler on ESPN.com.
Fowler also mentioned that the Bears cleared up around $17 million in cap space with the Moore trade, and that “Yes, they could use pass-rush help. But I don’t sense Chicago is desperate for a splashy pass rusher. Much will depend on price. Interior rush help could be the way to go.”
The Bears’ defensive line was among the weaker units of the team this past season, which saw them defy expectations by making it all the way to the NFC divisional round, and very nearly further than that, in Ben Johnson’s first season at the helm in the Windy City.
However, a lot of things had to go right for the Bears to reach that mark, as the team made a habit out of pulling off epic comebacks and winning virtually every close game they played in, not something they want to have to rely on moving forward, as the Washington Commanders found out this past season.
In any case, the NFL free agency period is slated to open for business on March 11.
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