Let’s assess the fantasy impact Khalil Mack’s trade to Chicago has
By Dylan Broady
What does the Khalil Mack trade mean for your fantasy team?
A blockbuster trade has paved the way for another monster in the midway. Khalil Mack was dealt to the Chicago Bears on Saturday morning in a stunning deal.
The impact of Mack for the Bears is all anyone can talk about (that and trolling Jon Gruden for trading him) but what does it mean for your fantasy team? Can we trust the Bears defense? Does Khalil Mack make them playable week to week? It’s all true because this revamped Bears defense could be the perfect sleeper to help you win in fantasy football this season.
Mack’s 608 total tackles, 40.5 sacks in 64 games travel to the Windy City. Last season the Bears defense allowed 5106 net yards and 20.6 points a game. Although good for 10th best in the league the addition of Mack almost guarantees the Bears defense will only go up from last seasons Top-10 finish.
Just because the Bears have Mack doesn’t mean things will be easy .Chicago travels to Green Bay in Week 1 and will have to face Aaron Rodgers and his new weapon Jimmy Graham. Maybe not the best week to start this young defense when you first see it on paper.
The next seven weeks offer a lot more upside to get your fantasy team off to a hot start if you’re one of those players who likes to stream defenses based on matchups. The Bears defense will face Seattle, Arizona, Tampa Bay, Miami, New England and the New York Jets with a bye week sprinkled in between.
Seattle lost Jimmy Graham and Paul Richardson to free agency. A hobbled Doug Baldwin and Tyler Lockett will have to fill the target share and touchdowns lost to Jimmy Graham last season. The Bears should capitalize in their home opener against this lackluster offense.
Arizona shouldn’t strike fear into their opponents at all with glass man Bradford at the helm. Sure David Johnson is back but Mack and the monsters shouldn’t have any trouble zeroing in on Arizona’s number one playmaker.
Tampa Bay will not have Winston for the first three weeks. Backup quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick will take over the starting quarterback duties in his absence. Chicago shouldn’t have an ounce of trouble keeping this depraved offense from scoring in week four.
The Miami Dolphins will have their starting quarterback Ryan Tannehill back from his season-ending injury last year. Although Miami looks to put a decent running game on the field, their lack of potent pass catchers with the loss of their number one target Jarvis Landry (400 total receptions in Miami) shouldn’t be a problem for this new Bears defense to “Bear down” on.
It’s hard to have confidence in the Bears defense against Tom Brady, but he is playing with perhaps the weakest team he’s ever had. That’s not a guaranteed success for Chicago but it’s not as daunting as it once was, especially now with Mack in the mix.
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Finally week eight the Bears will face the New York Jets and Sam Darnold. Easy play week as we don’t really know what to expect from their rookie quarterback this upcoming season.
The Bears defense is easily in the sleeper category for a starting defense this year, coming off a top 10 finish in 2017 with the addition of Khalil Mack, it’s just a little more reason to stream them this season.