Old habits die hard, or perhaps it's just the Carolina faithful hoping the Panthers find a away to redeem themselves at some point.
Bears GM Ryan Poles has made his share of mistakes but one thing he definitely got right was the trade. That would be the 2023 deal made to give away the first pick of the draft to Carolina for DJ Moore and draft picks that later became tackle Darnell Wright, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and another pick they will use in Round 2 for this draft.
Oh, and it provided the pick the Bears used to draft quarterback Caleb Williams.
The Panthers got one thing in exchange and that's QB Bryce Young, who has had a rollercoaster start to his career in a bad offense.
Now Carolina interests are proposing more trades with the Bears by the Panthers, although these are fictional. They're also wildly entertaining.
Schuyler Callihan of Chicago Bears On SI proposed the Bears trade the Panthers the 10th pick overall in Round 1 and the 39th pick, the Bears' first of two picks in Round 2, in exchange for the eighth overall pick and a third-round pick, No. 74 overall.
The Bears essentially move up only two spots in Round 1 and then give up their 39th pick so they can move back 35 spots out of the second round and into the third round. Duh.
Would the Panthers like a few of the Bears' first born, as well? Let's get real here. If Poles did this, you'd have to think he'd been drugged.
This proposal suggested the Bears could do this so they can get their hands on Armand Membou. While Membou is an impressive lineman and big athlete, there are plenty of big guys in this draft to get at No. 10 or even later, guys the Bears have been studying. There's no real need to move back 35 spots in Round 2 and up two spots in Round 1 if they want a lineman.
Brad Biggs of the Tribune mocked Texas tackle Kelvin Banks to the Bears at No. 10. It's probably not a popular pick but it would be much preferred over giving away the 39th pick to move back to Round 3. Wow.
Maybe this is just Panthers people wanting that 39th pick back because it's the one the Bears got from the Panthers in Poles' 2023 fleecing.
Math provides another good reason why the Bears wouldn't do this. The Drafttek value chart says the eighth pick is worth 1,400 points and the 10th pick worth 1,300 points. That means the Bears need to make up a 100-point deficit in Round 2 to come up with an even trade.
Instead, the move proposed here is for the Bears to drop from the 39th pick, which is valued at 510 points, to the 74th pick in Round 3, which is valued at 220 points. That's 290 points, not 100 points. The Panthers would also need to come up with the equivalent of the 61st pick overall in Round 2 to give to the Bears along with that third-round pick at 74 if they wanted that 39th pick.
That's quite a difference and enough to dismiss this all as lunacy.
Another trade with the Panthers was proposed by a writer named Anthony Palacios for the website Last Word on Sports.
This speculated the Bears would be willing to move cornerback Tyrique Stevenson after the big contract given to slot cornerback Kyler Gordon.
Gordon isn't a boundary cornerback now. He's a slot cornerback and there's no connection to anything between Gordon's contract situation and Stevenson's, because they could still pay Stevenson in the future if they wanted, since they won't be paying huge deals in two years for defensive players like Tremaine Edmunds.
The Bears could hang on to Stevenson two more years before he'd need a contract and they could go through two more drafts to replace him. They are in no rush to trade him just because he caused the Hail Mary pass with a dumb mistake.
Stevenson actually hasn't done as bad as many people might imagine. He's been targeted a whopping 201 times in two seasons but came out of it with passer ratings against on those passes of 93.7 in 2023 and 87.5 last year according to Stathead/Pro Football Reference. PFF graded him poorly at a "58.9," which means far less in the real world than a passer rating against, a much more objective statistic.
Stevenson also came into the league with a reputation for being at his best in man-to-man coverage and new Bears defensive coordinator Dennis Allen has used man-to-man coverage at almost twice the rate the Bears have in the past. So Stevenson may yet become a feared defender.
There's no need to rush into anything, and even if he struggles again this year they still have Terell Smith as a potential backup. He was regarded as nearly starter level by the past Bears regime.
There really is no need for the Bears to trade Stevenson unless someone wanted to offer them a pick on level with the one they made for him, a second-rounder.
Palacios points out many Bears fans were calling for Stevenson's release, anyway.
They were also calling for George McCaskey to sell the team. Want doesn't get.
This proposal didn't even specify what the Panthers give the Bears, only a vague reference to a late draft pick.
All of this invites a trade proposal back: How about Chuba Hubbard, Derrick Brown and the Panthers' 10th pick overall and the Bears will provide a seventh-round pick. In fact, feeling generous today, throw in both Bears seventh-round picks.
Panthers GM Dan Morgan isn't going to do this, obviously, although former GM Scott Fitterer just about did something similar with the original trade involving DJ Moore and the pick to acquire Caleb Williams.
The Bears will keep Tyrique Stevenson and both of their second-round picks, and stay put in the draft.
Carolina will just have to get over that fleecing of 2023 on its own.
