The NFL can be a challenging and emotional business. That’s a hard lesson a teary Roquan Smith learned on Wednesday afternoon following the news of the Chicago Bears’ pending trade of Robert Quinn to the Philadelphia Eagles.
Such is life in a sport and league where your beloved coworkers and friends might find themselves in a new city at seemingly any given moment. Now, Smith’s emotional reaction aside: we’ve got to talk about the ramifications of this deal for Philadelphia and Chicago.
The undefeated Eagles want to cement themselves as the NFC’s Super Bowl heavyweight, and Quinn might help them do that. The Bears, meanwhile, might finally be on the upswing with Justin Fields, but they’re still rebuilding. So they need picks and players first and foremost.
Let’s break down the critical points of this huge NFL trade deadline deal between the contending Eagles and the slowly ascending Bears.
The Details
The Eagles get: DE Robert Quinn
The Bears get: A fourth-round pick in the 2023 NFL draft
Compensation update: Eagles are sending a fourth-round pick to Chicago in exchange for DE Robert Quinn, per source. https://t.co/rPGQxfodLc
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) October 26, 2022
Philadelphia Eagles
The Eagles might be the unquestioned favorite in the NFC, but that doesn’t mean they didn’t have any flaws. With Derek Barnett recovering from a torn ACL early in the season, Philadelphia’s pass rush left matters somewhat to be desired.
Enter the hot and cold Robert Quinn.
On paper, the Eagles have the NFL’s best pass defense by yardage, but they’re just 12th in sacks and were asking a lot of a 34-year-old Brandon Graham and Josh Sweat — who is probably better in a swing pass rusher role. Getting a savvy veteran like Quinn into the picture should give the Eagles a lot more firepower up front. More importantly, it’ll open up more space and take attention off Philadelphia’s mammoth defensive interior of Fletcher Cox and Jordan Davis.
The flip side of this deal for the Eagles is that Quinn has, more or less, been invisible this season. The 32-year-old pass rusher has just one sack and three QB hits in seven games and is on a roughly career-low pace — which he “accomplished” in Chicago in 2020 when he had two sacks and six QB hits in 13 starts.
If the Eagles are getting the Quinn that qualified as a Second-Team All-Pro with 18.5 sacks in 2021, this deal is a home run for Howie Roseman. If they get even a fraction of that for what amounts to a half-season rental, it’s still a solid double. If Quinn stays largely (and inexplicably) invisible — this was a bunt gone awry that shouldn’t hurt Philadelphia much anyway, with just a fourth-round pick’s cost and with the Bears picking up most of his 2022 cap hit.
Call it a hunch, but I think the seasoned Quinn will be somewhat revitalized by playing on a contender. He won’t be a dominant force per se, but he can occasionally take advantage of matchup issues, which is all the Eagles need.
Grade: B
Chicago Bears
The Bears might appreciate that they’re starting to see Justin Fields blossom in front of their eyes, but this bare-bones squad isn’t in a position to win just yet. They need more young premium talent, and lots of it, and talent doesn’t grow on trees — most of it comes from the draft.
Fortunately for Chicago, rookie GM Ryan Poles appears to see the Lake Forest for the trees. At 32 and in a potential decline, Robert Quinn had no long-term future with the Bears. It didn’t make sense for them to hold onto an older edge rusher with a $14 million and $13 million cap hit in 2023 and 2024, respectively. Essentially, it was easy to see Poles was going to release Quinn this offseason (who has no dead cap hit on his contract after this year), and he recouped a solid Day 3 draft pick for a half-year rental instead.
This is an excellent move for a Bears team that just needs players and shots at the dartboard in the draft. And with plenty of cap space in the offseason, the Bears could certainly afford to take on most of Quinn’s salary this year if it meant better draft capital in return. In an ideal world, a fourth-round pick should be a future starter/significant contributor to Chicago’s ongoing rebuild.
Plus, again, let’s not lose sight of the fact that Quinn has been a non-factor for the Bears for most of 2022. That they were able to turn his services into a fourth-rounder is highly commendable. Oh, by the way: The Bears now have nearly $125 million in cap space (!) heading into 2023.
With this move, Poles and Co. took a big step into the future, and I see little fault.
Grade: A
