Bears Mailbag – Whom Could Bears Realistically Trade For?

Dhruv Koul answers your questions in his Bears Mailbag. You can follow and continue the conversation on Twitter: @DhruvKoul.

After a tough loss to the New England Patriots last Sunday at Soldier Field, the Chicago Bears regroup this week, at home again, against the New York Jets. The Bears dropped to 3-3 with their loss, and also dropped from first place to last place in the NFC North. But they’re right in the mix as we approach the end of October — something that hasn’t really been the case for a few years.

As the Bears prepare for the Jets, led by their rookie quarterback Sam Darnold, I tackle your Bears’ questions this week in the Bears’ Mailbag. Thank you to everyone who submitted questions; we always appreciate the participation!

Who can the #Bears realistically trade for?

— Paul (@mrpchvz) October 24, 2018

The Bears don’t have a lot of trade capital the next few years thanks to their trade up in the 2018 NFL Draft for WR Anthony Miller, as well as their pre-Week 1 trade for All-Pro EDGE Khalil Mack. The Bears are without three draft picks in 2019, and without their first rounder in 2020. So the number of moves they can make is limited at the moment.

Sure, the Bears have ‘trade chips’ on their current roster that *could* acquire more draft picks for them, such as: RB Jordan Howard, LB Nick Kwiatkoski, WR Kevin White, and even EDGE Leonard Floyd. But the reality is there is no way the Bears will trade any of these players in-season. They’re still in the playoff race — why sell?

So they’re stuck with the draft capital that they have. What are their needs? It’s clear that they could use another pass rusher. Khalil Mack has an injured ankle and Leonard Floyd, in admittedly limited snaps rushing the passer, has continued to be worthless. Isaiah Irving and Kylie Fitts are young, unproven players who largely struggled in preseason action, so they could use some depth on the edge. They could also use more secondary depth. Another corner who can play outside would be very helpful, especially as Prince Amukamara has battled injury this year and their main backup outside, Marcus Cooper, is both injured and, well, bad.

Generally, quality edge players or pass rushers aren’t made available too often at the trade deadline, even by teams that are struggling. So if I had to guess, cornerback would be the most likely position that the Bears could target via trade. And their pre-Week 1 trade partner, Jon Gruden of the Oakland Raiders, recently benched a former first round CB that could help the Bears immensely: Gareon Conley.

He can play press coverage quite well — something the Bears’ current corners, Kyle Fuller and Amukamara, aren’t able to do consistently, and something Vic Fangio would likely love to have the ability to do. He’s got good speed and contends for the football quite well. Though he doesn’t pattern match particularly well, the hope would be that his press ability, coupled with the Bears’ pass rush getting back to its Weeks 1-4 dominance, would elevate the defense again.

Since Conley has fallen out of favor in Oakland, the Bears could likely put together a package of lower draft picks, even starting with a fourth rounder, to try to pry Conley away from Oakland. Of course, there are certainly going to be other teams interested in his services and could drive up the price. But he’s certainly worth a phone call.

Q: If Jordan Howard does get traded, who would realistically be able to replace what he does on the field?

I got this kind of question from a few folks, and I want to reiterate from my answer above: The likelihood that Jordan Howard gets traded is very, very low. The Bears will need someone like Howard to grind out tough yards when the weather gets colder and the air attack isn’t as efficient.

That being said, on the off chance that he does get traded, it’s very unlikely that Tarik Cohen or third-string RB Benny Cunningham would take over “bell cow” responsibilities — that’s just not who they are. The first likely candidate who may get a shot will be practice squad RB Ryan Nall. Nall flashed in training camp and the preseason after joining the Bears as an undrafted free agent. While he certainly isn’t as talented as someone like Howard, he has some intriguing qualities and could certainly be given a look as a contributor.

There are also some folks on the ‘street’ who could contribute as well. Knile Davis spent some time with the Bears in training camp before being released. Charcandrick West played for Matt Nagy in Kansas City and has proven to be effective running the ball. Thomas Rawls was a tough runner in Seattle before battling some injuries. Terrance West also can handle heavier responsibilities running the ball and has spent some time in Cleveland and Baltimore.

But the reality is no one on this list can replace Howard’s production. He’s one of the best runners in the NFL and at this time of year, it’s impossible to find someone to replace that level of talent. That’s why Howard isn’t going anywhere.

What happened to the #Bears defense?

— Paul (@mrpchvz) October 24, 2018

Paul with the double-dip! Appreciate the participation.

I’ve touched on this a bit the past few weeks, but the blueprint has been exposed on beating the Bears’ defense: Utilize the quick passing game to render the Bears’ pass rush useless, and rely on your playmakers to make plays. The Bears don’t press with their corners, for whatever reason, and so receivers from the Miami Dolphins and Patriots the past two weeks have routinely gotten free releases at the line of scrimmage. The Bears’ tackling has also been awful the last two weeks, so it’s been one giant recipe for disaster for the defense.

The Bears can try to counteract this by pressing receivers more frequently to disrupt route timings and give the pass rush an extra second or two to try to get to the QB. But the Bears haven’t really been close to disrupting passers the past two weeks, even when Brock Osweiler and Tom Brady did drop back for deep passes. An injured Khalil Mack has certainly killed a lot of the pass rush’s steam, but other rushers on the front seven haven’t picked up the slack on their end, either, with the biggest culprit being Leonard Floyd.

The other way to counteract this is by acquiring another true, shutdown cornerback who takes away an entire option or side of the field for most of the game. Many people say that a fierce pass rush can make CBs more effective. That’s true, but you can negate a pass rush with the quick passing game, as has been proven against the Bears the past two weeks. A shutdown corner? They’re harder to beat.

The reality is that the Bears don’t have a shutdown corner, though they have a good one in Kyle Fuller and an adequate one in Prince Amukamara. So unless the Bears start trying to press a little more often or improve their tackling substantially, the blueprint is there for teams to beat the pass rush. Expect that to continue.

Q: With the Bears at 3-3, how do you see the rest of the season playing out?

I do have to make some assumptions here. I’ll assume that Mitch Trubisky plays like an average QB the rest of the year, and the defense returns to playing Top 15 football the rest of the year (not like we’ve seen the past two weeks). I’ll also assume no major injuries occur (apart from what’s already happened) to either the Bears or any of their upcoming opponents. That being said, here’s how I see the rest of the season shaking out:

Vs. Jets – W
@ Bills – W
Vs. Lions – L
Vs. Vikings – L
@ Lions – L
@ Giants – W
Vs. Rams – L
Vs. Packers – W
@ 49ers – W
@ Vikings – L

So I have them finishing at 8-8. That certainly won’t be enough for a playoff spot, IMO, but it would set a great foundation for Year 1 under Matt Nagy and the Bears would be set up well to make a real run at the playoffs next year.