AZ54

The something I might get out of keeping him is a much better Dline rotation that is good enough to get us into the Super Bowl.

That’s where I’m at. I want to upgrade the D line. Dexter is our best interior pass rusher grading well in that aspect despite his flaws. He struggles to get off blocks and make tackles on runs. He also just 24 years old which is as old as two of the top 5 DTs in the draft class. Can he be replaced via the draft? Of course but not likely with the trade value we’d get in exchange. Any decent FA will likely cost more. i keep him as part of the rotation and try to add two starter level talents. One via FA and one in the draft.

People complaining about Swift's lack of toughness between the numbers and their solution is to trade him and then draft an outside-the-numbers runner in Singleton?

No he was pretty clear about looking at options for DJ. No need to tip toe around it just leave it out there and make the market as big as possible.

Work ethic

Sure if you have one buyer and one seller. $15mil could easily be converted into a bonus with lower salaries in year two or three bringing it to an AAV much less than $10mil.

https://www.profootballrumors.com/2026/02/bears-qb-tyson-bagent-drawing-interest#ref=home this appears to be more than one team with interest. Makes sense given the weak QB draft.

I watched Poles’ and Ben Johnson’s press conferences at the combine. Very clear he’s getting phone calls about players. Very clear that DJ is absolutely available. Might be Kmet too as he said he’s going to do what he feels gets the best roster overall. Stay tuned.

Now that is how you drive up the trade value. Could you find a better promo for a backup QB than Ben Johnson saying that.

The trade market rumors are heating up. Of course we still have the Maxx Crosby rumors. Now it appears the Giants are willing to trade away Dexter Lawrence and Kayvon Thibodeaux. Neither of these guys have the price tag of Crosby. Among them Dexter Lawrence is the one I’d be most interested in although neither had a particularly good year. Lawrence is still just 29 years old and can be dominant inside both on run D and pass rush. Scanning the news it appears he had an elbow injury that hampered his offseason workouts and that issue carried into the first part of the 2025 season. He’s expensive…cap hits of $27 and $29mil the next two years. We could figure that out and a trade might involve moving DJ Moore, or Kmet - not necessarily to the Giants since they too need cap space.

I see all this Lee Hunter hype but McDonald is a rare beast. IMO you take the route run stopper over the guy who will offer a good but not great mix of both. Then you just have to pair him with a good 3tech of which there are several in rounds two or three.

I agree. Too big and stiff to be a good DE and not big enough to be a full time DT. I can’t imagine him becoming more nimble if he adds weight.

I was thinking I’d take Budda Baker and a pick but then I saw his $20mil/yr contract.

Where is Matt Eberflus when you need him?

I think the team will be optimistic about Ozzy returning to full health. If that’s correct then I agree with AQ Shipley when he was interviewed at the Superbowl by CHGO and discussed our Oline. He basically said if you want to buy yourself a year then sign a vet because you can’t ever really trust a rookie even the early picks. While the veterans flaws you will know how to cover up. That makes the most sense to me unless we think Ozzy can’t return i also think we might find a decent FA player at a good price now that we have a good team