Chicago Bears Possibly Feeling Out Trade Options for Young Defender

Most of the Chicago Bears trade talk the past few months has entirely centered around Jordan Howard. That's no surprise. His value is obvious and his fit in the new offense remains questionable. There was some speculation about doing something with veteran inside linebacker Danny Trevathan as well, but that scenario seems even more remote than Howard. Outside of that, the buzz regarding potential moves has been rather limited, if totally non-existent. That changed, at least to a minor degree, when draft analyst Chad Forbes revealed a list of players that he's heard rumbling could be dealt at some point soon this offseason. It included obvious names that people already know like Antonio Brown, John Ross, Trae Waynes, and Dee Ford among others. Amidst the long list though was one Bears names, and it was one people might not have guessed. Third-year defensive end Roy Robertson-Harris.

Chicago Bears do have the capability to trade Roy Robertson-Harris

Forbes has demonstrated solid connections to the draft and coaching communities in the past. Still, I asked around to see if any of it was true. I was told the Bears did indeed send out feelers during their time down at the scouting combine in Indianapolis. A perfect venue to gauge the potential value of their players. How serious it got is unclear. Now, of course, everybody will say the Bears can't trade Robertson-Harris because he's a free agent. Technically that's true, but it's also an easy fix. Thanks to missing his first year in Chicago on the NFI list, Robertson-Harris is an exclusive rights free agent. What is that? Here's an explanation from OverTheCap.com.

"These are the players with 2 or less seasons in the league, a status reserved almost solely for undrafted rookie type players. Once tendered they can only negotiate with their former team. The tender offer is only a one year non-guaranteed contract at the minimum salary level so most teams would use the ERFA designation on players who were on the roster late in the prior year and signed to a 1 year deal."

In other words, the Bears can use the tender on Robertson-Harris and he will essentially be locked up for another year at just $645,000. That's dirt cheap given how well he played last season. Other teams would love to have a young player of his upside at such a price and with the added chance to sign him long-term. So why would the Bears trade him? Two reasons. They don't have the cap space to retain him beyond 2019 unless he takes what would likely be a significant discous. On top of that, they also have Bilal Nichols coming up in the pipeline. So if they feel they can get a draft pick for him, it makes sense. While losing Robertson-Harris would be unfortunate, getting a pick back for a player who was an undrafted free agent is still a win for the Bears. Whether anything actually comes of this rumors remains to be seen.