I’ve swung my ‘Hope-a-meter’ to CB help as we speed towards the deadline. As much as I’d absolutely love to have Mack or even Young at this point, I’d have to think any of the three below would be an upgrade in the backfield.

Obviously we know how Wright can look in this defense. But from what I’ve been reading about Woolen, he allegedly would “thrive” in Allen’s preferred man-press coverage. Where in Philly he’s struggling a bit in Fangios zone version. Plus at 6’4” not only is he huge, but got some amazing speed for a guy that long.

The winds of change are ever shifting. Sounds like now Chicago is out of the running for Mack. He allegedly has decided he wants to stay a Charger (or he’s being held hostage - one of the two).

Meanwhile Chicago has reportedly turned its focus on Chase Young while still looking to get CB help.

Update: Bears and Lions in “deep competition” for CB Riq Woolen.

HEAVY

Chicago Bears Dealt Chase Young Trade Rumor Amid Zavier S...

The Chicago Bears were dealt a Chase Young trade rumor amid recent news regarding Zavier Scott ahead of the NFL Trade Deadline.

On 11/5/2026 at 7:32 AM, Alaskan Grizzly said:

I’ve swung my ‘Hope-a-meter’ to CB help as we speed towards the deadline. As much as I’d absolutely love to have Mack or even Young at this point, I’d have to think any of the three below would be an upgrade in the backfield.

Obviously we know how Wright can look in this defense. But from what I’ve been reading about Woolen, he allegedly would “thrive” in Allen’s preferred man-press coverage. Where in Philly he’s struggling a bit in Fangios zone version. Plus at 6’4” not only is he huge, but got some amazing speed for a guy that long.

I've seen quite a few Eagles games and Riq Woolen is not a very disciplined DB. He's very handsy, often called for contact after 5 yards pulling on jerseys. Considering his elite speed I don't understand why he feels he has to grab players instead of just turning and running with them. I definitely think he's a guy Al Harris could help but we're talking about a mid-season trade where there is little practice time to hone techniques.

I've seen Mike Sainristil mentioned too. He's on the bench for the Commanders. He might be a good depth piece to add and less costly than someone that is a starter. Except he's small and not likely a good boundary CB which is what we need.

3 days until the deadline.

With next year's draft picks already thin, I don't see them spending much unless it is for a guy with a couple years on contract. They will need to cut/fill some spots being 41.7 million over cap in 2027.

Sweat will be an easy cap casualty or restructure with his PED violation and JJ with performance. I think they are done unless a player has a contract that works with the future.

I read an article that offered a possible answer to how to strengthen our run defense: veteran defensive tackle Jordan Elliott, recently released by the Tennessee Titans after an off-the-field incident involving a handgun. It was a bizarre incident, totally out of character for the young man. Simmons knows him well, having lined up next to him for years. The Bears are said to be interested, and if Simmons vouches for him, I say go for it. Cheap add with no draft capital involved.

Bears to Work Out Former Titans DT After Controversial Release

34 minutes ago, Pixote said:

I read an article that offered a possible answer to how to strengthen our run defense: veteran defensive tackle Jordan Elliott, recently released by the Tennessee Titans after an off-the-field incident involving a handgun. It was a bizarre incident, totally out of character for the young man. Simmons knows him well, having lined up next to him for years. The Bears are said to be interested, and if Simmons vouches for him, I say go for it. Cheap add with no draft capital involved.

Bears to Work Out Former Titans DT After Controversial Release

Sounds like a good move to me. Wed have 3 Titan defensive lineman that would be familiar with former Colts Dayo and Gallimore.

Maybe nothing but ever since I set up this ‘nfl trade rumor tracker’ with Google I get updates when the Bears get mentioned in any potential trade deals, speculative or not. Could be some distracting talk or it could be somthing. Still an intriguing consideration.

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bears-pitch-trade-jets-star-173507524.html

4 hours ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

3 days until the deadline.

Sweat will be an easy cap casualty or restructure with his PED violation and JJ with performance. I think they are done unless a player has a contract that works with the future.

Depending on how this year goes, especially if they make the SB, let alone win it, I could see a fair number of players making team friendly contracts to keep the team intact. Sweat would easily fall into this category (IMHO) and I had heard some talk that Caleb might even approach his contract talks as Brady did. When he helped the team keep players around by negotiating a more team friendly deal.

1 hour ago, Alaskan Grizzly said:

Maybe nothing but ever since I set up this ‘nfl trade rumor tracker’ with Google I get updates when the Bears get mentioned in any potential trade deals, speculative or not. Could be some distracting talk or it could be somthing. Still an intriguing consideration.

https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/bears-pitch-trade-jets-star-173507524.html

Nashon Wright is star?

1 hour ago, AZ54 said:

Nashon Wright is star?

Yeah that was the top comment on the article I noticed. I think the author took some liberties considering he did make the Pro Bowl last year and there are no other “stars” currently on defense.

On 11/7/2026 at 3:03 PM, Alaskan Grizzly said:

Yeah that was the top comment on the article I noticed. I think the author took some liberties considering he did make the Pro Bowl last year and there are no other “stars” currently on defense.

Considering there are no other stars sitting on the bench.

2 hours ago, AZ54 said:

no other stars

Period.

The clock expired and Poles sat on his hands, Bravo!

CB- Malik Muhammed will be back. He will be opposite of Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon at NB and Tyrique Stevenson primary back up. This is light years better than last year. JJ showed improvement and hopefully takes that game and continues. S Coby Bryant should be back in a month too which frees Bam Cam Lewis as rotational depth as well.

DE/pass rush - Sweat took Dayos meme and is now "motivated". Booker asked for opportunity and it is showing. Turner returned and is showing a flash? But he should start growing with experience. Dayo is returning and was one of the Bears better rushers before injury.

This all revolves around DT Jeffrey Simmons and his presence in the middle. Jarrett and Lynch seem to be showing up. Bears worked out DT Jordan Elliott who may push Van Den Berg to PS in time if signed.

Heck even Bush is showing what he can do with the addition of Simmons.

So I am happy the Bears stood still and can use the remaining draft to help re-tool after the season and hard decisions will have to be made.

2 hours ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

The clock expired and Poles sat on his hands, Bravo!

CB- Malik Muhammed will be back. He will be opposite of Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon at NB and Tyrique Stevenson primary back up. This is light years better than last year. JJ showed improvement and hopefully takes that game and continues. S Coby Bryant should be back in a month too which frees Bam Cam Lewis as rotational depth as well.

DE/pass rush - Sweat took Dayos meme and is now "motivated". Booker asked for opportunity and it is showing. Turner returned and is showing a flash? But he should start growing with experience. Dayo is returning and was one of the Bears better rushers before injury.

This all revolves around DT Jeffrey Simmons and his presence in the middle. Jarrett and Lynch seem to be showing up. Bears worked out DT Jordan Elliott who may push Van Den Berg to PS in time if signed.

Heck even Bush is showing what he can do with the addition of Simmons.

So I am happy the Bears stood still and can use the remaining draft to help re-tool after the season and hard decisions will have to be made.

Me too

This mock fell favorably for the Bears, bye week fun.

A good press man CB , a high effort technician at edge, and a quick 3T for pass downs. RB that played w Caleb at USC and is a hybrid WR/RB. Another LB with speed and coverage skills. There were some IOL and TEs available with the 6th but went RB since most of this year the Bears been thin.

This draft will give the Bears options with Jaylon, Sweat, Jarrett and Dayo who will be considered as cap cuts

3 hours ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

This all revolves around DT Jeffrey Simmons and his presence in the middle.

Boy howdy has he ever. You’re right in that he’s been a huge factor in other players getting better. I cant think of a time I’ve ever seen Sweat smile let alone more than once. The front 7 for sure have improved based on Simmons addition. I agree completely that once Bryant returns AND he’s able to make up for a lot of lost time, he’ll be key to the back end and be a great pairing with Thienamen

The corners still remain a mystery. I’m not convinced Muhammad is the solution. He’s had a couple good games but hasn’t made a full season against tough competition down the stretch. I think what we saw from Jaylon against the Bucs is his peak performance and that will probably all we’ll get from him going forward. And Stevenson…well he’s about as hot and cold as a broken hot water heater. For me, I’d feel better with one more solid and proven CB but otherwise im good.

Extended thoughts on the lack of another trade. As stated by many here.... Simmons changes the calculus. It's already more evident in the significant drop in blitzes we've seen in the last two games. That allows more coverage and as we did against Seattle and JSN we can bracket a WR if we want to and keep him in check. We can do that against two WRs if we want. When we get Bryant back the ability to rotate and mix coverages over the top goes way up. I think that's definitely part of the thinking.

We have a LB in Bush who can cover RBs or TEs. TJ Edwards is good in coverage for a short area but that's enough with consistent early pressure. Our NB in Gordon is pretty good as well. Essentially this means if/when we want to do more bracket coverage on a WR (or two) we have the ability to go single man on man against the other offensive threats.

There were no good CBs available. Even if there were, did we have the cap space for them, or were we giving up a valuable day 2 pick? I don't think we should give up a 2nd or 3rd Rd pick after we lost our next two 1st Rd picks (not complaining). Those pieces are needed for restocking but also cap control. If Overthecap is correct we have just $2mil in cap space right now. I know we could do some magic and make room if needed. Why do that for someone like Woolen who is just not better than our current CBs so he'd be a depth piece. I never understood the chatter about Nashon Wright...we've seen all his poor coverage skills and don't need more of that. I can't say he's any better than the DBs on our practice squad but I can say that the coaches know.

Do we need a DE? Booker and Sweat have looked much better with Simmons. Dayo is going to return and was productive before his injury and that should only go up with Simmons around him. Turner is still learning how to play DE, and we're getting good pass rush production out of Hardy too. Again I didn't see any game changers out there other than Mack and it seems he wasn't available.

DT depth is more of a concern for me. Where I see production coming out of DEs 3, 4, and 5 on the depth chart, I don't see that at DT. Van den Berg has not been very productive with almost no flashes. Nor has Gallimore. With the loss of Street we could use a good depth piece in this rotation. It might be that the Bears are strongly considering the ex-Titan Jordan Elliot and they wanted to save the cap space for him. Handle run downs better get more 3rd and long situations. That gets you a piece who can give Jarrett and Simmons some more snaps off the field.

When Simmons was off the field against Seattle they averaged something like 13yd/play. When he was on the field it a little over 3yds/play. I haven't seen the stats from the Tampa game but it felt similar on the few plays Simmons took off.

5 hours ago, AZ54 said:

Extended thoughts on the lack of another trade. As stated by many here.... Simmons changes the calculus. It's already more evident in the significant drop in blitzes we've seen in the last two games. That allows more coverage and as we did against Seattle and JSN we can bracket a WR if we want to and keep him in check. We can do that against two WRs if we want. When we get Bryant back the ability to rotate and mix coverages over the top goes way up. I think that's definitely part of the thinking.

We have a LB in Bush who can cover RBs or TEs. TJ Edwards is good in coverage for a short area but that's enough with consistent early pressure. Our NB in Gordon is pretty good as well. Essentially this means if/when we want to do more bracket coverage on a WR (or two) we have the ability to go single man on man against the other offensive threats.

There were no good CBs available. Even if there were, did we have the cap space for them, or were we giving up a valuable day 2 pick? I don't think we should give up a 2nd or 3rd Rd pick after we lost our next two 1st Rd picks (not complaining). Those pieces are needed for restocking but also cap control. If Overthecap is correct we have just $2mil in cap space right now. I know we could do some magic and make room if needed. Why do that for someone like Woolen who is just not better than our current CBs so he'd be a depth piece. I never understood the chatter about Nashon Wright...we've seen all his poor coverage skills and don't need more of that. I can't say he's any better than the DBs on our practice squad but I can say that the coaches know.

Do we need a DE? Booker and Sweat have looked much better with Simmons. Dayo is going to return and was productive before his injury and that should only go up with Simmons around him. Turner is still learning how to play DE, and we're getting good pass rush production out of Hardy too. Again I didn't see any game changers out there other than Mack and it seems he wasn't available.

DT depth is more of a concern for me. Where I see production coming out of DEs 3, 4, and 5 on the depth chart, I don't see that at DT. Van den Berg has not been very productive with almost no flashes. Nor has Gallimore. With the loss of Street we could use a good depth piece in this rotation. It might be that the Bears are strongly considering the ex-Titan Jordan Elliot and they wanted to save the cap space for him. Handle run downs better get more 3rd and long situations. That gets you a piece who can give Jarrett and Simmons some more snaps off the field.

When Simmons was off the field against Seattle they averaged something like 13yd/play. When he was on the field it a little over 3yds/play. I haven't seen the stats from the Tampa game but it felt similar on the few plays Simmons took off.

Well said AZ. Next year's cap is showing 20 mil over without figuring the 5th year options on Caleb/Odunze. The Bears will work on extensions first to help lower the cap on Jonah Jackson/Thuney/Kmet, but will have to cut a valuable player or two to keep this train chugging . The thought of FAs is not existent right now without changing major chemistry.