The 2025 NFL Draft is quickly approaching and the phones will be ringing off the hooks this week with teams around the league looking to make last minute deals to acquire draft capital before the weekend arrives.
For the Chicago Bears, the front office will likely be making some calls to field interest in moving up or down the draft board, but could the team move some players too?
The Bears hold seven picks in the draft but are lacking in mid-round selections without a fourth or sixth round pick. Here are three current players on the roster who could be dealt this week to recoup some last minute mid-late draft picks.
QB Tyson Bagent
This one is going to sting for a lot of Bears fans who have fallen in love with Tyson Bagent over the last two seasons. The former UDFA from Shepherd turned into a dependable backup QB for the Bears in 2023 after going 2-2 as the starter when Justin Fields went down due to injury.
In 2024, Bagent was once again the team's QB2 despite many wanting a veteran addition to backup first overall pick Caleb Williams. Williams went on to start all 17 games while playing 99% of the offensive snaps, meaning it didn't really matter.
However, with a new staff coming in for the 2025 season, plans changed. The Bears wanted a veteran presence in the room for Williams and went out to sign Case Keenum, who's received great reviews as a former mentor to Jared Goff, Josh Allen, and C.J. Stroud. That move makes Bagent's future uncertain for multiple reasons.
For starters, there's no reason to carry 3 quarterbacks on the roster and if Bagent is released this summer, another team will likely claim him for free. Even if the Bears keep him, 2025 is the final year of Bagent's deal and he will walk after the season. Given the down year for a QB draft and the amount of QB-needy teams, the Bears might be able to entice another team to make a move to trade for Bagent.
DT Zacch Pickens
This one seems as straight forward as it gets. It didn't take long for the Bears to sour on Zacch Pickens, the former third-round pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. Gervon Dexter, the second-round selection in the same class on the interior, saw a massive jump in his sophomore season while Pickens tumbled down the depth chart.
Pickens finished his season on the inactives list with Chris Williams (whom the Bears traded a seventh-rounder for) and Jonathan Ford (who was claimed mid-season off the Green Bay Packers practice squad) being listed above him.
With Williams and Ford both returning plus the addition of Grady Jarrett, Pickens is fully buried on the depth chart and will be a likely cut candidate if another interior defender gets drafted later this weekend.
The Buccaneers, Cardinals, Bills, and Seahawks all showed pre-draft interest in Pickens back in 2023. Perhaps Poles can part ways with another failed draft pick for a late round pick instead of holding on to eventually cut him in the long run.
RB Roschon Johnson
Just like with Pickens, things could look grim for running back Roschon Johnson depending on how the 2025 Draft plays out, but this one could be decided well before the start of Thursday's first-round.
The Bears have been hot on multiple top backs in the class to pair with D'Andre Swift in Ben Johnson's 2-RB style offense. That doesn't fully mean Johnson's time in Chicago is over but with Travis Homer re-signed and second-year Ian Wheeler receiving positive reviews, adding a rookie to the mix makes the position crowded.
Johnson, the team's fourth-round selection in 2023, would hold the most trade value at the position (saying Swift hangs around for another year). The Bears already proved in 2024 they had no interest in really giving him any workload despite his skillset. It just makes more sense to move off him once a top back joins the team early in the draft.
