With the Cleveland Browns recently modifying Myles Garrett's contract, does that open up the possibility of the Chicago Bears making a trade for the star pass rusher?
The Chicago Bears were interested in Maxx Crosby. That is well known.
General manager Ryan Poles said that the team "checked in" on the star pass rusher from the Las Vegas Raiders. It didn't work out for Chicago or any of the other teams after the Baltimore Ravens backed out of the trade with the Raiders.
But the Cleveland Browns may have just opened the possibility of Myles Garrett becoming available. For a Bears team that looked into Crosby and is coming off an NFC North title, a player of Garrett's caliber would be the exact move to help elevate Ben Johnson's team to a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
According to ESPN's Field Yates on Wednesday, Garrett and the Browns "have agreed to modified language on his contract" that would push back the deadline for his options bonuses in 2026, 2027 and 2028 from mid-March to early September.
Garrett also had $8 million of his base salary in 2029 and 2030 converted into early roster bonuses in those seasons.
Yates also wrote that he modifications to Garrett's contract give Cleveland "more flexibility to create cap space in each year, and Garrett benefits with the modified option payments."
With Garrett's $29.2 million option bonus for 2026 deferred to later in the year, the Browns don't have to pay that large amount of money right now, which opens up the trade window into the summer for the next few years.
(Jason Fitzgerald from OverTheCap provides more details about Garrett's modified contract in his recent article.)
The Browns have publicly stated many times that Garrett won't be traded, but if the pass rusher is truly available, why wouldn't the Bears, at the very least, make a call to to Browns general manager Andrew Berry.
Caleb Williams is still on his rookie contract, and that gives the Bears more financial flexibility to take on bigger contracts. And it only makes sense to do that now since Chicago showed last season that the team can compete and make a deep run in the playoffs.
For those wondering how the Bears would even have the cap space, Poles would have to restructure some contracts, turning base salary into signing bonuses. This pushes money down the road but would allow for a potential trade.
So, what would it cost to acquire the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year? The 30-year-old pass rusher is coming off a 23-sack season and has finished with double-digit sacks in every season outside of his rookie year in 2017.
Bare minimum, it would be two first-round picks. The Green Bay Packers traded that plus defensive tackle Kenny Clark to acquire Micah Parsons last season. First-round picks, plus additional picks, and a player would potentially be in the ballpark of what it would take to make a trade happen.
The trade capital alone could be out of the Bears' range. Plus, Garrett does have a no-trade clause in his contract, meaning he controls his final destination. But with the Bears trending upward, that might not be a huge obstacle to overcome.
Realistically, even if Garrett was available for a trade, it's hard to envision the Bears making this type of move. Poles has emphasized short-term and long-term ramifications for every move he makes. Garrett no doubt helps the team now, but there is significantly less draft capital to continue building the team in the future.
Although it's most likely a pipe dream, it's fun to think about a team that would have two cornerstone players in Williams and Garrett.