Bears GM Ryan Poles 'checked in' on trade for Raiders DE Maxx Crosby, but cost too high
The Bears were in on the Maxx Crosby trade talks — who wouldn’t be? — with the Raiders, but only to a point. General manager Ryan Poles weighed the effect of adding a game-changing pass rusher against the divot it would put in the team’s draft capital and salary-cap situation.
When discussing the top defensive ends available this offseason, which obviously included Crosby and free agent Trey Hendrickson, Poles said Thursday he preferred to preserve future flexibility.
Specifically on Crosby, he confirmed that he inquired but didn’t like the price. The Raiders were asking for two first-round picks, which they got from the Ravens last week before the trade fell through Tuesday.
“We’re always going to monitor every situation,” Poles said. “Sometimes it fits and it works with what you’ve got going on in terms of resources; sometimes it doesn’t. We were involved. We checked into it. We looked to see if it made sense, had some dialogue, but I’ll just leave it at that.”
In addition to whatever the Bears would’ve sent to the Raiders, they would’ve had to accommodate Crosby’s contract. He has $121.1 million coming over the next four seasons.
As it stood Thursday, OverTheCap had the Bears at $6.8 million in cap space after finalizing their acquisitions of safety Coby Bryant, linebacker Devin Bush Jr., center Garrett Bradbury and others. They could restructure some contracts and even unload at least one veteran relatively easily, but Poles was averse to that last month and has pointed out several mistakes the Bears made along those lines before his arrival.
So the Bears showed restraint as the Crosby market heated up and stepped aside as Hendrickson went to the Ravens for $112 million over four years, Jaelan Phillips got a four-year, $120 million contract from the Panthers and Odafe Oweh landed a four-year, $100 million deal with the Commanders.
“Just constantly looking at short term, long term,” Poles said of his rationale for avoiding those bidding wars. “What’s going to help this football team now? But also being conscious of what’s going to happen down the road.
“We want to sustain success. In order to do that, we have to be very calculated with the moves we make. When we were looking into different situations, we took that into account. We felt like sticking with our plan going into free agency was the best thing for us.”
When asked if it was more an issue of protecting draft resources or spending ability, he said, “All of it.”
Without a splashy acquisition, the Bears will have to rely on a combination of players they already have and prospects in the draft.
Their best asset in the pass rush is defensive end Montez Sweat, who has been up and down during his Bears tenure but had 10 sacks last season. Defensive tackle Gervon Dexter was next with six, and defensive end Austin Booker had 4½ as the team finished with the seventh-fewest sacks in the NFL.
The Bears have had the second-fewest sacks in the league during Poles’ four seasons. He hoped he had solved that problem long term by signing former Colts defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo a year ago to pair with Sweat.
Odeyingbo, however, had only one sack in eight games before tearing his Achilles. The Bears also drafted Shemar Turner in the second round and liked his progress at defensive end, but he tore an ACL in the middle of the season.
Their top picks in the draft are Nos. 25, 57 and 60 overall, so their options are limited. They also must consider pressing needs at offensive tackle, defensive tackle and possibly cornerback, safety and wide receiver.
The top three pass rushers were gone by the 25th pick last year, and the top four were off the board by then in the previous two drafts.
The other option for the Bears is to shop among veterans who likely would be available on a pricey one-year deal. Cameron Jordan, Joey Bosa and Haason Reddick were unsigned Thursday.
Poles was speaking in the past tense about looking into Crosby, though that could change if the Raiders’ demands drop. They might have to consider taking less if they’re still intent on unloading him soon.
For his part, Crosby expressed enthusiasm for staying with the organization in a post on X and appeared to push back against the Ravens’ concerns about his knee two months after having surgery.
“Everything happens for a reason . . . I’m back,” he wrote.
The market for him could surge again as it gets closer to the start of the season, so this is the time for an opportunist to swoop in. If Crosby looks like he’s back to normal and teams start to become a little more desperate, someone might give the Raiders two first-rounders in August.
Poles, however, didn’t sound ready to take the plunge on that.