3 Deshaun Watson trades the Bears could make this offseason

Trade No. 1

This one will sting for Bears fans, but if they want Watson to start under center for them, it’s a sacrifice that they need to be willing to make.

Ever since moving to Chicago in 2016, defensive end Akiem Hicks has been a consistent force at the line of scrimmage. In his first three seasons, Hicks never missed a single game to injury and never recorded less than seven sacks in each year. That’s truly an impressive feat. However, he was limited to just five games in 2019 due to an elbow injury. Hicks did only miss one game this season, but only recorded 3.5 sacks.

The Bears will need to gather as much cap space as possible to bring in Watson’s $21.6 million hit for the 2021 season. Luckily for the Bears, trading Hicks will free up $12 million in cap space and they’d only incur a dead cap of $1.5 million.

Much like the Nick Foles trade in the previous slide, the Texans would gain the same draft package in return. Bears get freed up money and a dominant quarterback, while the Texans get premium draft capital to begin their much-needed rebuild.