Mentioned in trade rumors earlier this offseason, Robert Quinn is not expected to join the Bears’ new-look front seven at the team’s minicamp. The 12th-year vet plans to stay away from the mandatory workouts, Ian Rapoport of NFL.com tweets.
The Bears purged their defense of many veterans this offseason. They traded Khalil Mack, cut Danny Trevathan and Eddie Goldman, and let Akiem Hicks defect to the Buccaneers. Quinn, who is in his third season with the Bears, may well want out.
Although D.K. Metcalf and Terry McLaurin are skipping their teams’ respective minicamps, this is not an especially common practice. Players are subject to more than $90K in fines for missing mandatory workouts. Of course, Quinn — who signed a monster Rams extension back in 2014 and landed a nice Bears accord in 2020 — has made considerable dough as an NFLer. Still, Quinn is by far Chicago’s best pass rusher at this point. The team moving on from him would further gut its defense.
The Bears trudged through a rough 2021 season, but Quinn turned it into a showcase year. At age 31, Quinn broke Richard Dent‘s single-season Bears sack record — which had stood since 1984, when the Bears notched a still-standing NFL record for team sacks (72) — by notching 18.5 in 16 games. Quinn would stand to help most contenders’ pass rush situations, should the Bears end up dealing him.
New GM Ryan Poles said earlier this offseason a Quinn trade was not on the team’s radar. The accomplished veteran does carry a team-high $17.1M cap number, and the Bears could both pick up an asset and save some money by trading him. Should another team agree to take all of Quinn’s $12.8M salary, that would benefit a rebuilding Bears squad. Though, sacks may be difficult to come by in Matt Eberflus‘ first season in charge. The team did not operate aggressively to replace Mack. Chicago signed ex-Eberflus Indianapolis charge Al-Quadin Muhammad and drafted Dominique Robinson in Round 5.
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