The Chicago Bears’ media guide lists every trade the franchise has made since 1960, when they sent quarterback Rudy Bukich to the Pittsburgh Steelers for a first-round pick.
It even includes the 1973 trade of one dollar to the Denver Broncos for wide receiver Ike Hill.
The index reflects the way the league has evolved, with general managers becoming increasingly comfortable making trades. Bears GM Ryan Poles has already made 15 trades involving veteran players as he approaches his fourth trade deadline. That’s the same number as Ryan Pace, who was GM for seven seasons.
And Pace’s trade total dwarfed his predecessor, Phil Emery, who made four such trades in three seasons.
Poles’ most notable trade, still, might be linebacker Roquan Smith. On Halloween 2022, he sent Smith to the Baltimore Ravens for a second-round pick (which became Gervon Dexter), a fifth-round pick (Noah Sewell) and linebacker A.J. Klein.
Sunday will be the first time the Bears have faced Smith since the trade. He’s now a star for the Ravens, having made first team All-Pro and the Pro Bowl three times each.
That’s the backdrop for the teams’ Week 8 matchup, which takes place nine days before the trade deadline. Poles has made a move every trade deadline, from the big (Smith, Robert Quinn, Montez Sweat, Chase Claypool) to the not-so-monumental, like last year when he sent running back Khalil Herbert to the Bengals.
We’re not expecting the Bears, in Year 1 of the Ben Johnson era, to be very active in the trade market, but with Poles at the helm, never say never.
Now, on to your trade-deadline questions.
(Questions have been lightly edited for clarity and length)
Does DJ Moore get moved for a premier player on either side of the line? It seems like he’s never developed a rapport with Caleb Williams, dating back to the SNF game last year against the Texans. — Jack Z.
Last year, Davante Adams was the blockbuster trade of the deadline. A six-time Pro Bowler, Adams went from the Raiders to the Jets for a conditional third-round pick. Moore hasn’t been to a Pro Bowl. As good a player as he is, and the fact that he’s 28, another team would consider the resume, along with his contract.
Moore’s salary-cap hit is $28.5 million in each of the next three seasons.
It’d be difficult for another team to forgo a “premier” player for Moore. And we don’t see player-for-player trades very often. The Bears haven’t had a player-for-player trade without any draft picks involved since 2015 (Ryan Groy for Matthew Wells, as if any of you forgot).
If the Bears were open to moving Moore, which I doubt, maybe they’re looking at a fourth-rounder. Is that worth it? Moore is still an exceptional talent. Rome Odunze has passed him up as far as targets, but I’m not sure rookie Luther Burden III is ready to take on a starting role — he still hasn’t surpassed Olamide Zaccheaus. Moore battled back from a groin injury that required a hospital stay, paired with a hip injury, to have 43 receiving yards in the win over the Saints.
“DJ has done a great job of playing through things. He just keeps coming back,” offensive coordinator Declan Doyle said Thursday. “A lot of times, you can have a receiver on your team or a player that may be higher paid that maybe has a different attitude towards things. He does not. He is one of us, and I love the way he competes.”
I’ve written this before: Moore isn’t winning any body language contests, but I think concerns about his rapport with Williams are overblown. Trading Moore doesn’t make the Bears better this year. Considering the unlikelihood they’d get fair compensation as far as replacing his production — on either side of the ball — it’s probably not helping them for 2026, either.
“I hope everybody here knows I’m not a diva,” Moore said Thursday. “Some of the fans might think I’m a diva, but you know, it is what it is. I just go out there and play my hardest every time.”
Bears offensive tackle Braxton Jones is in the last year of his rookie contract. (Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)
Any chance the Bears look to move Braxton Jones for an edge/RB/DB? Feels like the coaching staff would turn to Ozzy Trapilo if either tackle goes down anyway. — Danny G.
On a basic level, Jones is a true trade candidate. He’s in the last year of his rookie contract and it doesn’t seem like he’ll get extended. But what have other teams seen on tape during the first four games to make them interested? He barely won a four-man competition, then lost the job to an undrafted player from Canada. Last year’s ankle injury was significant and hindered Jones’ ability to get back to his top form.
But it only takes one interested team. There’s more than enough film of Jones since 2022 that shows a starting left tackle, and this team believed in him enough to put him out there in Week 1. But what can he still do now after last year’s ankle injury? Last year, after Christian Darrisaw got hurt, the Vikings sent a conditional fifth-round pick to Jacksonville for Cam Robinson. That was a desperate team trading for a second-round pick.
Player-for-player trades are rare. Of the 18 trades that took place during the 2024 regular season, only one included a player on either side. If draft compensation for Jones would be a late-round pick, keep that in mind when projecting the level of player who could be included in a trade.
If the Bears can get a guaranteed draft pick while also giving Jones an opportunity to start somewhere else, that could work for both sides, but they’d have to feel good about both the compensation and the current plan at left tackle. Ideally, they’d turn to Trapilo as the No. 2, but he has been predominantly working on the right side since late in camp. One other wrinkle: Jones didn’t practice Thursday with a knee injury. If that’s more than a day-to-day situation, any trade conversations are definitely out.
Will the need for Darnell Wright and Jaquan Brisker extensions and a not-so-easy roster decision on Tremaine Edmunds make a quality player acquisition unlikely? — Dave M.
Let’s pump the brakes a bit on those extensions. If the season ended today, sure, the Bears would want Brisker back and Wright extended based on how they’ve played. But we have 11 games to go. Brisker will be a free agent if nothing gets done in-season or immediately after, which would make it harder for the Bears to retain him.
The better the Bears draft, though, the more problems like this they’ll have, a scenario that Poles watched happen in Kansas City.
“Those decisions will continue to come with success,” he told The Athletic at the 2024 league meetings. “You get to a point where a quarterback starts taking up a lot of cap space or you have a better team that does, like, you can’t keep everybody.”
That’s a reminder that if all the Bears’ draft picks or free-agent adds excel, some will end up leaving. It’s the reality of the NFL. The overall point about the cap, though, is valid. Over the Cap projects the Bears to be in the bottom third in cap space for 2026, unfamiliar territory for the team since Poles’ first offseason. Any trade in the next 11 days requiring an extension would have to be for someone truly worthy and possibly include some financial gymnastics to make it happen.
The cap situation — including the players who could get new deals soon — is one of several factors that have us leaning toward the Bears standing pat this trade deadline.
Do you think Poles learned a lesson and will lean toward trading for proven players over projects, and if he does make a move for an edge project, which names should we keep an eye out for? — Jack M.
The Chase Claypool trade understandably lingers for Bears fans, but Poles can’t allow that mistake to affect future decisions. Just because Claypool didn’t work out doesn’t mean a player in a similar situation won’t, either. It’s a different team and a different coaching staff. Certainly, Poles’ evaluation of players may include extra factors to try to account for that failure, but it doesn’t mean he should never trade for a “project” again.
Acquiring “proven” players is preferred, but those players aren’t always available, and they could come at a higher cost depending on age, health, etc.
Surveying colleagues at The Athletic, a few edge players who could be available include Jermaine Johnson (Jets), Arden Key (Titans), Jaelan Phillips (Dolphins) and Arnold Ebiketie (Falcons). The Bears are 18th in the league in sacks per pass, a ranking boosted by last week’s four sacks — but only one came from a defensive end. Austin Booker’s expected return this weekend could bolster the edge rush. The Bears already have a lot of resources poured into their starters and may be hesitant to spend too much capital in-season on another defensive end.
Ravens linebacker Roquan Smith will face the Bears for the first time since they traded him to Baltimore three years ago. (Peter Casey / Imagn Images)
Bears-Ravens fun facts
• The Bears lead the series 4-3 with a 1-2 record in Baltimore. The last time the teams met was in 2021. Tyler Huntley led a game-winning drive for a 16-13 Ravens win at Soldier Field.
• In 2017, the most recent matchup at M&T Bank Stadium, the Bears won 27-24 in overtime. Safety Adrian Amos had a pick six and running back Tarik Cohen threw a touchdown pass to tight end Zach Miller. Running back Jordan Howard’s 53-yard run and Mitch Trubisky’s 18-yard pass to receiver Kendall Wright set up Connor Barth’s game-winning field goal.
• Lamar Jackson has never faced the Bears. He missed the 2021 game with an illness.
• The Ravens are 14-3 coming off the bye under coach John Harbaugh. They haven’t lost in their first game after a bye since 2020.
• As underdogs of at least 6.5 points on the road, the Bears are 3-29 since 2016, with wins in Green Bay (2024), New England (2022) and Seattle (2021).
Game picks: Bears (+6.5) at Ravens, noon CT on CBS
Kevin Fishbain: Ravens 26, Bears 22
(5-1 straight up, 4-2 against the spread)
There’s something about picking against John Harbaugh, Lamar Jackson (fully healthy or not) and the Ravens in Baltimore that I’m not capable of doing, regardless of how their defense has played or what their record is. Maybe I’m picking the logo on the helmet more than what the film has shown, but this doesn’t seem to be the best time to play a desperate Ravens team. The Bears have proved they’re good enough, though, to keep it close.
Dan Wiederer: Ravens 24, Bears 20
(5-1, 5-1)
The Ravens aren’t as bad as their 1-5 record suggests. But they’re certainly not the Super Bowl contender many expected. An upset opportunity is here for the Bears, particularly if they strike early and heighten the anxiety inside M&T Bank Stadium. Still, even with Baltimore against the ropes, they still have two-time MVP Lamar Jackson at quarterback and a rugged running game led by Derrick Henry. Their pride figures to kick in during such desperate times. Meanwhile, the Bears’ secondary is short-handed and their passing game is too inconsistent. They won’t play clean enough to pull this one off.
Dan Pompei: Ravens 27, Bears 20
(4-2, 4-2)
Two theories come to mind. The first is the Desperate Team Theory — the one with the most to lose usually finds a way to win. The second is the Gravitational Pull To .500 Theory, which states that every team is pulled to a .500 record. Both theories favor the home team. The Bears have four wins, partly because they have been so adept at takeaways. If those takeaways dry up — and there is evidence to believe they will — the Bears will be vulnerable.
Jon Greenberg: Ravens 24, Bears 23
(3-3, 3-3)
This is assuming that Lamar Jackson returns. Maybe I’m just assuming Baltimore eventually gets right. As a Steelers fan, I’ve been rooting against the Ravens for more than 20 years, so I’m conditioned to believe they will start winning. I think Caleb has a rough game and the Bears don’t get their usual three to four takeaways, but it’ll be a close game and the Bears’ winning streak ends.
Jeff Zrebiec (Ravens beat writer): Bears 23, Ravens 17
If you could guarantee me that Lamar Jackson will A: play; and B: be close to 100 percent, I’d take the Ravens. But it’s impossible to make those guarantees, particularly after watching him in practice this week. This feels like a game between teams headed in opposite directions. The Ravens haven’t played complementary football all year, nor have they earned the benefit of the doubt that they can suddenly flip the switch.
