{"id":204842,"date":"2024-12-16T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-12-16T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/?p=204842"},"modified":"2024-12-16T12:07:16","modified_gmt":"2024-12-16T17:07:16","slug":"micah-parsons-trade-becomes-a-reality-for-the-bears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/12\/16\/micah-parsons-trade-becomes-a-reality-for-the-bears\/","title":{"rendered":"A Khalil Mack-Level Trade Becomes a Reality for the Bears"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Chicago Bears fans are no strangers to surprises. Back in the 2018 offseason, the team made waves by trading for star pass rusher Khalil Mack. Fast-forward to today and a similar opportunity is emerging. Bears General Manager Ryan Poles has a chance to make his own blockbuster move\u2014this time for <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/cowboys\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Dallas Cowboys<\/a> star pass rusher Micah Parsons.<\/p>\n<h2>A Khalil Mack-Level Trade Becomes a Reality for the Bears<\/h2>\n<h3>Micah Parsons Weighs in on the Cowboys Being Open to Trading Him<\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/12\/15\/micah-parsons-trade-ian-rapoport-cowboys\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Reports indicate that the Cowboys haven\u2019t ruled out trading Micah Parsons this offseason.<\/a> The star defender weighed in with a mature response:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em>&#8220;I understand how that business side goes. There are no hard feelings in this business, whether I&#8217;m here or anywhere else. Obviously I&#8217;ve stated that I want to be here. But at the end of the day, I understand the business side. I&#8217;ve put in a lot of work, I&#8217;ve played hard too, so obviously if sides can&#8217;t agree to those type of things, it happens like that. But I&#8217;m just happy to be here. I&#8217;m just gonna keep playing hard while I&#8217;m here. If I&#8217;m here for the next 5-6 years, I&#8217;m gonna keep playing hard then too. Ain&#8217;t nothing really gonna make a difference, Micah is gonna play hard.&#8221;<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>It\u2019s the kind of no-nonsense response you\u2019d expect from a professional. But the NFL is a business, and the Cowboys may not be able\u2014or willing\u2014to pay Parsons the money he deserves.<\/p>\n<h3>Khalil Mack Wasn\u2019t Expecting a Trade to Chicago<\/h3>\n<p>Bears fans will recall the shockwaves of the Khalil Mack trade. Even Mack himself wasn\u2019t expecting to leave the <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/category\/nfl-teams\/raiders\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">Raiders.<\/a> In just two days, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/story\/_\/id\/24543080\/chicago-bears-reach-agreement-trade-khalil-mack-oakland-raiders\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Raiders negotiated with multiple teams,<\/a> and Mack ended up in Chicago. At the time he became the highest-paid defensive player in NFL history with an average annual salary of $23.5 million.<\/p>\n<p>The trade sent a wake-up call to the league, showing that anything can happen at any given moment. The point is many people don&#8217;t expect a team like Chicago to be interested in trading for Micah Parsons, but with a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/12\/09\/an-unpredictable-situation-brewing-with-bears-ryan-poles\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">GM on the verge of losing his job,<\/a> he may pull one last-ditch effort to bring results to a team that desperately needs it.<\/p>\n<h3>Why Micah Parsons Could Be the Answer for Chicago<\/h3>\n<p>The Bears desperately need a pass rusher, and Micah Parsons is as close as it gets to replicating the impact Khalil Mack brought to Chicago. A former <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportingnews.com\/us\/nfl\/news\/micah-parsons-contract-projection-cowboys-highest-paid\/6f7a1af67b0227c91d8de9fb#:~:text=From%20runaway%20Defensive%20Rookie%20of,Defensive%20Player%20of%20the%20Year.\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Defensive Rookie of the Year with three consecutive All-Pro selections,<\/a> Parsons is a game-changer. Having <a href=\"https:\/\/www.espn.com\/nfl\/player\/stats\/_\/id\/4361423\/micah-parsons\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">49 sacks and 245 tackles<\/a> in under four seasons, trying to trade for him isn&#8217;t the worst idea in the world.<\/p>\n<p>Some critics argue that trading for Parsons could disrupt the culture Chicago is trying to build. But with the Bears sitting on around <a href=\"https:\/\/overthecap.com\/salary-cap\/chicago-bears\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">$80 million in cap space,<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/11\/22\/chicago-bears-three-round-2025-nfl-mock-draft\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">two second-round picks, and a likely top-15 first-rounder in 2025,<\/a> the team has the assets to make a move. And, given their current struggles, is there really a &#8220;culture&#8221; to preserve?<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Micah Parsons having a day with his second sack.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udcfa: <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/DALvsCAR?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#DALvsCAR<\/a> on FOX<br \/>\ud83d\udcf1: <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/waVpO909ge\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/t.co\/waVpO909ge<\/a> <a  href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/JCfjSKeiVV\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/JCfjSKeiVV<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; NFL (@NFL) <a  href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NFL\/status\/1868395832946589923?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">December 15, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<h3>All-In for the Future<\/h3>\n<p>If the Bears want a proven player who can change the defense, that&#8217;s what they&#8217;ll get in Parsons. Actions speak louder than words, and Parsons has shown on the field he is worth the draft compensation and cap space. With a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/2024\/12\/02\/bears-could-join-chargers-texans-in-wild-rookie-quarterback-club\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">franchise quarterback<\/a> heading into year two, the time to put all the chips in is now.<\/p>\n<p><em>Main Image: Andrew Dieb &#8211; USA Today Sports<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles could have a chance to recreate the 2018 offseason &#038; land his &#8220;Khalil Mack&#8221; with a trade for Micah Parsons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4976,"featured_media":204889,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[23,54],"tags":[33008,7403,7422,358,6993,8857],"class_list":["post-204842","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-bears","category-editorials","tag-2025-nfl-offseason","tag-chicago-bears-news","tag-dallas-cowboys-news","tag-khalil-mack","tag-micah-parsons","tag-ryan-poles"],"modified_by":"Isaac Zuniga","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204842","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4976"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=204842"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204842\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":204948,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/204842\/revisions\/204948"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/204889"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=204842"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=204842"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=204842"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}