Suspension receiver Montez Sweat definitely his not playing for Bears…
The Montez Sweat acquisition and subsequent signing is looking like a shrewd move by Bears General Manager Ryan Poles.
In trading for Sweat, Poles restored order to a defense that had been on its heels since the mid-season trades of Roquan Smith and Robert Quinn in 2022. The Bears were allowing 27.3 points per game but have cut that to 18.2 since adding Sweat.
The Bears did lose their team sack leader, Yannick Ngakoue, to a broken ankle in that victory over the Lions. Ngakoue, signed to a one-year contract before the season, has four sacks. He leads Sweat and tackle Justin Jones by one-half sack.
Poles passed up the top edge rushers to draft offensive tackle Darnell Wright and defensive tackle Gervon Dexter with his top two picks a year ago. By investing a second-round pick in Sweat, Poles was essentially declaring that he’ll again pass on the top rushers in the 2024 draft.
The extension with Sweat would seem to have some future significance for the defense. It allows Poles to use the franchise tag on cornerback Jaylon Johnson if the sides once again fail to agree on the terms of an extension.
The Bears are expected to have the salary cap space to keep Johnson at the franchise-tag price of about $20 million. The Bears entertained the possibility of trading Johnson in mid-season — they even granted him permission to speak with other teams — but were not offered what it would have taken to trade him.
They finished last in the NFL with 20 sacks in 2022 and had only 10 in their first eight games this season. But that has changed drastically.
Sweat came to the Bears from Washington in a trade at the Oct. 31 deadline, costing Chicago a second-round pick. Poles signed him to a four-year, $98-million extension only four days later, and he has quickly established himself as a cornerstone player for on an improving defense
