Courtney Cronin y John Keim | ESPN31 de oct, 2023, 13:33 ETLectura: 5 min.
NFL: El Top 10 de Ivis Aburto – Semana 8
The Bengals are back! And although their record is a reminder of their poor start to the season, their performance places them as one of the best teams in the AFC.
Sweat, 27, is in the final year of his contract, and the Commanders are opting for a draft pick now instead of a compensatory pick they could receive if Sweat signs elsewhere as a free agent next year.
Defensive end Montez Sweat leads the Commanders with 5.5 sacks.Brad Mills/USA TODAY Sports
News of the trade comes hours after sources told ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler that the Bears granted cornerback Jaylon Johnson permission to seek a trade. Johnson, 24, is in the final year of his rookie contract and said he is looking for “respect and security” in the form of a new deal.
The trade injects pass rush talent into Chicago, where they are last in the league at the midway point of the season. The Bears replaced three of their four starters along the defensive line ahead of the 2023 season in free agency and spent second- and third-round picks on defensive tackles Gervon Dexter Sr. and Zacch Pickens. The Bears have 10 sacks this season and an NFL-low 46 pressures, good for 30th.
In eight games, Sweat has 6.5 sacks, bringing his career total to 35.5 in five seasons.
Chicago’s 2024 second-round pick is currently the 35th pick in the draft. At the trade deadline in 2022, the Bears sent their own second-round pick to Pittsburgh in exchange for wide receiver Chase Claypool, who played in 10 games in Chicago. The Bears traded Claypool to the Miami Dolphins after beating Washington in Week 5.
For the Commanders, the move is a nod to their losing record and the difficulty of keeping their defensive line intact. Sweat and defensive end Chase Young are free agents after this season. Washington has already given big contracts to defensive tackles Daron Payne and Jonathan Allen over the past two seasons.
In the offseason, Washington had expressed a desire to extend Sweat, but with the ownership situation in flux (Josh Harris didn’t take over until late July) talks never developed. The Commanders had also told Young they would reward him if he had a productive season.
Because Washington remains optimistic about quarterback Sam Howell, it could leave the team with a cheap quarterback for the next two seasons. That would have left available cap space for both Sweat and Young, but it also could have left the Commanders with an unbalanced cap structure, with a lot of investment on the defensive line and little elsewhere.
If Washington had extended Sweat and used the franchise tag on Young, for example, it would have had three defensive linemen count for more than $20 million against the salary cap next season, and one offensive lineman for more than $10 million.
The high price line did not result in productive play by the defense. Washington ranks sixth in the league with 25 sacks, but the Commanders rank 23rd in pass rush win rate. Among defensive linemen, Young ranks fifth in this area, but none of his linemates are in the top 55.
Washington selected Sweat with the 26th pick in the first round of the 2019 NFL draft, a selection obtained when the team returned to the first round.
Sweat was an immediate full-time starter and has been productive, although he has yet to finish with more than nine sacks in a season. Sweat is one of seven players with at least five sacks in each of the last five seasons (since 2019), along with Chris Jones, Myles Garrett, TJ Watt, Khalil Mack, Maxx Crosby and Brian Burns, according to ESPN research Stats & Information.
He is also considered a strong run defender and has been durable. Sweat missed seven games in 2021 when he suffered a broken jaw, he missed one game due to Covid and another two after his brother was shot and killed. But in his other four seasons, Sweat hasn’t missed a game.
2023-10-31 18:33:00
#Sources #Bears #trade #Montez #Sweat #Commanders
