Pre-Combine Mock Offseason

[dreadpirateroberts]

At this point, the smarter move is to deal Quinn.

Shorter deal. and he's coming off the best season of his career. I think Gipson is a good bet, and there are some other ends on the roster (Snowden, etc.) who could also take steps up.

Trade Quinn out and sign Tyquan Lewis. Maybe sign Al-Quadin Muhammad or Isaac Rochell for depth as well.

 

[Major Ursa]

I don't see Eberflus finally getting bookend DEs and trading one of them away, especially since he isn't going to have a DeForest Buckner in the middle of the DL. If they did cut a DE, I'd prefer it to be Quinn for several reasons. You're not going to get good value for Mack coming off an injury plagued couple years. And Quinn would be selling high after the season that he just had. He's also been inconsistent with the sack numbers historically, while Mack has been consistent when healthy and is almost 2 years younger.

The issue with this is Quinn is a natural fit for the 4-3 and Mack can't stay healthy. I would prefer Mack if he could stay on the field as well. These two guys are a luxury that we can't afford in order to move forward with an offensive identity.

 

[RiDLer80]

Why do we need to trade either? You know hard it is to get quality pass rushers?

 

[rawdawg]

The issue with this is Quinn is a natural fit for the 4-3 and Mack can't stay healthy. I would prefer Mack if he could stay on the field as well. These two guys are a luxury that we can't afford in order to move forward with an offensive identity.

Mack played every game for the previous 2 years. He missed 2 games in 2018 because Nagy gave him a rest against beatable teams after basically playing the first handful of games that year with no camp time due to his issues with the Raiders. One year (this year) he couldn't stay on the field, his entire career (never missed a game in Oakland).

Quinn has had more injury issues in his career and had some flat out dud years. If he has another dud, and you trade Mack, you have to cut him (at 33 you might have to cut him either way after 2022). Then you have just Gipson going into his FA season.

 

[dennehy]

If you were to trade Mack in 2022 and release Quinn in 2023 you'd also have about $40mil more in cap space heading in 2023 than you have now, plus a couple day two picks (or the like) for 2022. Having neither player is not a great scenario but it would leave the Bears will a lot of flexibility.

 

[Chicagosports89]

If you were to trade Mack in 2022 and release Quinn in 2023 you'd also have about $40mil more in cap space heading in 2023 than you have now, plus a couple day two picks (or the like) for 2022. Having neither player is not a great scenario but it would leave the Bears will a lot of flexibility.

They'd probably end up somewhere around $100 mill in cap space next year even with a roquan extension wouldn't they?

 

[dennehy]

They'd probably end up somewhere around $100 mill in cap space next year even with a roquan extension wouldn't they?

Depends on who they sign this year, who else is cut. If they make any big signing this year chances are their contracts will balloon in 23. Too early to tell. But if you are out from under your two biggest contracts in Quinn and Mack you are going to have way more flexibility, and it look like they should already have a lot of flexibility then, with right now $113m in space and contracts that can be terminated easily for Jackson, Whitehair. Goldman, and Cohen. Should be a pivotal year for the new regime.

 

[Chicagosports89]

Depends on who they sign this year, who else is cut. If they make any big signing this year chances are their contracts will balloon in 23. Too early to tell. But if you are out from under your two biggest contracts in Quinn and Mack you are going to have way more flexibility, and it look like they should already have a lot of flexibility then, with right now $113m in space and contracts that can be terminated easily for Jackson, Whitehair. Goldman, and Cohen. Should be a pivotal year for the new regime.

I agree. To me I'd be using this offseason to build the offense around fields and set up to go all in next offseason on building a contender with a lot of cap space and a nice allotment of draft picks

 

[ThatGuyRyan]

Why do we need to trade either? You know hard it is to get quality pass rushers?

You're not wrong. I would rather get the draft capital from one or both trades (highly unlikely) and tank for a season, then keep them around and be a meddling team. If we can launch Quinn for a 2nd or 3rd and a 4th, bye boi.

Would love to see him go to a contender anyway, love Quinn.

 

[dabears70]

I don't see Eberflus finally getting bookend DEs and trading one of them away, especially since he isn't going to have a DeForest Buckner in the middle of the DL. If they did cut a DE, I'd prefer it to be Quinn for several reasons. You're not going to get good value for Mack coming off an injury plagued couple years. And Quinn would be selling high after the season that he just had. He's also been inconsistent with the sack numbers historically, while Mack has been consistent when healthy and is almost 2 years younger.

I know we're all most interested in what Poles will do in free agency, the draft and who gets cut on offense but this defense could and probably will look real different next year depending on how they spend their money on offense. A.Hicks is going to be real hard to replace if we don't bring him back and i know many want Goldman cut but without those two in the middle it's gonna be real hard to replace that talent if we try sticking with guys like Blackson, Tonga and if we bring Nichols back. Goldman wasn't himself this year but he still has a ton of talent.

Then who we bring in to play LBer with Roquan will also be big, i'd rather not bring Ogeltree back. We need a true box safety and a CB2 if T.Graham can't take that job and also who will play NB.

 

[rawdawg]

I know we're all most interested in what Poles will do in free agency, the draft and who gets cut on offense but this defense could and probably will look real different next year depending on how they spend their money on offense. A.Hicks is going to be real hard to replace if we don't bring him back and i know many want Goldman cut but without those two in the middle it's gonna be real hard to replace that talent if we try sticking with guys like Blackson, Tonga and if we bring Nichols back. Goldman wasn't himself this year but he still has a ton of talent.

Then who we bring in to play LBer with Roquan will also be big, i'd rather not bring Ogeltree back. We need a true box safety and a CB2 if T.Graham can't take that job and also who will play NB.

I mean, they aren't hard to replace if they aren't on the field. Hicks has missed 20 games in the last 3 years. Goldman missed an entire year, and 7 games this year. Both also spent multiple games injured and mostly ineffective. It's possible to bring both back and still need to replace them in half the games.

But yeah, I'm fine with the defense looking different. They probably underachieved a bit. They need to get younger in the short-term and cheaper in the long-term. Getting rid of like 18Mil on the DL, one being 32 years old, is a good thing. In the grand scheme of things, I'm not super concerned about the defense. You can replace DL, LBs and SS cheaper than what the guys last year were getting paid.

 

[rawdawg]

If you were to trade Mack in 2022 and release Quinn in 2023 you'd also have about $40mil more in cap space heading in 2023 than you have now, plus a couple day two picks (or the like) for 2022. Having neither player is not a great scenario but it would leave the Bears will a lot of flexibility.

Honestly, neither on the team in 2023 is a real possibility. Mack has a 30M cap hit this year and if the Bears pay him that much toward the cap, that likely means he's not in their long-term plans. Because 30M eats up a huge chunk of his guaranteed money and you would save 17M of his 28M cap hit in 2023 by cutting him after this coming season. Quinn also becomes much easier to cut, and probably very likely as 2023 would be his age 33 season.

But I don't think cap space is a huge determining factor in moves the next couple seasons. They have a QB on a rookie deal. They have nobody they absolutely need to pay in the next 2 years except for Roquan. They probably aren't going to make big splashes in free agency until they know for sure that Fields is ready to take them to a championship.

 

[dennehy]

Honestly, neither on the team in 2023 is a real possibility. Mack has a 30M cap hit this year and if the Bears pay him that much toward the cap, that likely means he's not in their long-term plans. Because 30M eats up a huge chunk of his guaranteed money and you would save 17M of his 28M cap hit in 2023 by cutting him after this coming season. Quinn also becomes much easier to cut, and probably very likely as 2023 would be his age 33 season.

But I don't think cap space is a huge determining factor in moves the next couple seasons. They have a QB on a rookie deal. They have nobody they absolutely need to pay in the next 2 years except for Roquan. They probably aren't going to make big splashes in free agency until they know for sure that Fields is ready to take them to a championship.

I think Mack will still have enough value to trade after the 2022 season unless the injuries are still there. To me he's the kind of player who can be very productive to age 35 if healthy.

I don't really think cap space will be either, but with two guys who are coming toward the end of their deals it wouldn't surprise me if they let one go or trade one, maybe both.

 

[rawdawg]

I think Mack will still have enough value to trade after the 2022 season unless the injuries are still there. To me he's the kind of player who can be very productive to age 35 if healthy.

I don't really think cap space will be either, but with two guys who are coming toward the end of their deals it wouldn't surprise me if they let one go or trade one, maybe both.

Agreed on Mack. That's why this offseason is so interesting to me. I'm interested to see if the team treats him as a guy they want to retire as a Bear. I can see Eberflus making a point to keep him around as he gets rid of Hicks, Quinn, Trevathan, and the other aging vets. Will still be Roquan's defense, but he did value a guy like Justin Houston as an older pass rusher. Of course, they got Houston from Poles' old team KC who didn't value him at as an aging player.

 

[Hutch1975]

If you were to trade Mack in 2022 and release Quinn in 2023 you'd also have about $40mil more in cap space heading in 2023 than you have now, plus a couple day two picks (or the like) for 2022. Having neither player is not a great scenario but it would leave the Bears will a lot of flexibility.

The problem is, we're "selling" Mack low.

Trade Quinn, you still get two day two picks for 2022. If Mack rebounds and has a monster year in 2022, there is still the option to trade him for some picks in 2023, and you still get that cap flexibility.

 

[dennehy]

The problem is, we're "selling" Mack low.

Trade Quinn, you still get two day two picks for 2022. If Mack rebounds and has a monster year in 2022, there is still the option to trade him for some picks in 2023, and you still get that cap flexibility.

You have no idea what the Bears would get for Quinn. Or Mack.

 

[remydat]

QB - Fields, Willis
RB - Herbert, Cohen
WR - Mooney
TE - Kmet
OL - Jenkins, Borom, Whitehair

DL - Mack, Quinn, Goldman, Edwards, Gipson, Tonga
LB - Johnson
DB - Johnson, Jackson
K - Santos

These are the guys under contract for 2023, Whitehair, Goldman, Cohen, and Edwards are likely cut before then. So the thing is this team will be completely rebuilt by 2023 thru a combination of signing guys Eberflus wants to be here (Quan), the draft and FA.

If you really trying to contend by 2023, you are going to need some veteran leadership to help with that as you don't really want a completely young team trying to contend. Pretty much everyone above is going to be like 5 years in the league or less assuming the cuts I mentioned.

It is unlikely the draft picks we get from Mack and Quinn will be ready to make major contributions as early as 2023 and we will still be sitting on 100m in cap space given all the people that will be coming off the books. So we will not be short on money or resources to rebuild the team. What we will be short on is bonafide Pro Bowl caliber players and veteran guys in the locker room that exhibit the HITS principle that Eberflus wants to instill. That is why Mack and Quinn are important IMO. If they are still playing at an elite level, they are exactly the type of veteran leadership you will want on a team that is basically turning over 70% of its roster in 2 years.

 

[Hutch1975]

You have no idea what the Bears would get for Quinn. Or Mack.

You're right.

But I know that Quinn is coming off the best season of his career, and Mack missed most of the season.

Logically, you sell Quinn high this offseason.

If a healthy Mack rebounds in 2022, you have the option to trade him for more picks then.