Last year, it was the Green Bay Packers who shocked the NFL world by trading for a star pass rusher when they acquired Micah Parsons from the Dallas Cowboys.
This offseason, and much earlier in its stage, we could see yet another blockbuster trade happen, involving a star pass rusher. As the NFL Scouting Combine wrapped up, many of us have kept our eyes and ears open for fodder involving Las Vegas Raiders veteran Maxx Crosby.
With a lot of folks bracing for a trade, Sports Illustrated's league insider Albert Breer had a lot to say about the matter in his latest column. Most notably, Breer laid out the teams that are monitoring the situation:
"We should know soon enough which path the Raiders are taking, with teams like Dallas, Chicago, Baltimore, Buffalo, New England, Philadelphia and the Rams keeping tabs on his availability."
First of all, that's seven teams. That's a lot of teams who could be involved in a potential Crosby trade.
But, the Bears?
A Bears-Maxx Crosby trade is the last thing the Green Bay Packers want to see
Let's be real, for a minute. The Packers dropped their last two contests against the Bears with one of them coming in the postseason. Both of those losses happened in comeback fashion; miraculous fashion, you might say.
Give credit where it's due. The Bears aren't the same old Bears who lay down and die when faced with adversity. For years, the Packers owned them -- let's be clear here, they absolutely owned the Bears for a long time.
But now, it appears they have the quarterback and coach in place. Their defense was masked by takeaways, but was downright putrid. Take out the turnovers forced, and the Bears were a bottom-5 unit in multiple categories, including yards given up.
If Chicago were to land Crosby?
In short: that wouldn't be ideal.
By all accounts, the Bears' offense is only going to get better after their first year under Ben Johnson. Caleb Williams is likely going to improve. I hate to break it to you, but that's how this works. One season under a new head coach and learning a difficult system and the Bears did that?
The Packers need to keep up, and a big part of that is getting Parsons healthy again (but that's another story entirely).
Chicago knew what they needed to prioritize last season, in their offensive line, and they did. It seems Johnson has made all the difference, which would make sense that this year, Johnson is in his front office's ears about improving that defensive line, first and foremost.
Crosby to the Bears is not a pipe dream for Chicago fans. Of all destinations, they make more sense than most -- and that's nightmare fuel for this fan base.