Bears Trade Pitch Brings Sought-After $21 Million Star to Chicago

The Chicago Bears are a new and improved team in 2025, as they’ve gone through a complete overhaul. This team looks almost nothing like it did just a year ago, thanks to the many changes being made by new head coach Ben Johnson.

The Bears are largely getting praised for how they’ve put together their lineup going into the 2025 season. The Ringer graded their draft an A-, and PFF gave them a B+. Still, there are few worries heading into the new season in the Windy City.

There’s always room for improvement, and there’s one position that the Chicago Bears could still strengthen before the first snap of the season. That position is edge rusher. When the 2025 NFL draft came to a close, one of the bigger surprises from the Bears’ camp was that the team didn’t add one.

There’s no denying that the Bears could use some help in the edge rusher department. The team signed Dayo Odeyingbo as a free agent, but they really need to add depth to the position. For now, Montez Sweat will keep his position as the defense’s main pass rusher, and Odeyingbo is expected to duke it out with Austin Booker as a complement to Sweat.

But, it would help the Bears immensely if they were to pull off a coup and bring in one of the NFL’s most sought-after edge rushers.

An Edge Hero for the Chicago Bears

Here’s the trade pitch: Bring coveted edge rusher Trey Hendrickson to the Bears from the Cincinnati Bengals to really round out the Bears’ edge rusher unit. The Bears would get Hendrickson, and the Bengals would get a 2026 second-round pick.

Johnson and the Bears have cashed in a number of assets to improve its weaknesses this offseason, but as mentioned above, they still don’t really have an elite edge rusher. Hendrickson is a giant and led the NFL in sacks last season, and he wants to get paid.

It doesn’t seem as if he and the Bengals are close to a deal. Reports have been that Cincinnati is asking too much for Hendrickson, but as the clock ticks and the regular season nears, a second-round pick that would be in the top half of that round could begin to look like a pretty nice deal to the Bengals, especially if Hendrickson really intends to make good on his threat to sit out games, as Chris Jones did with the Chiefs, if the franchise doesn’t meet his salary demands.

So, the Bengals could wash their hands of the Hendrickson drama, and the Bears could land an elite edge rusher that would give any NFL team the chills.

The NFC North is strong, again, this year, and the Bears can’t afford to let any positions be on the weak end of things. If they truly want to have the comeback season that they’ve been wanting for so long, bringing Hendrickson into the fold will only help. The addition could also make the Bears one of the most feared teams in the NFL.