Windy City Gridiron
An article from ESPN yesterday suggests the Chicago Bears should be buyers before next Tuesday’s 4 pm (ET) trade deadline, and one voice is suggesting an unconventional addition to the squad.
Though Chicago has few truly glaring positions of need offensively, the defense could use some help, especially up front.
But Benjamin Solak floated a name one might not have expected for a surprise Bears pickup at the deadline: Washington Commanders corner Marshon Lattimore.
“This would be back-to-back trade deadline relocations for Lattimore, who picked off Patrick Mahomes on Monday but has struggled since Washington acquired him,” Solak writes. “He would return to Dennis Allen’s defense, where the absence of Jaylon Johnson leaves the outside cornerback position unsettled for the Bears. Lattimore isn’t the player he once was but probably would still beat out Tyrique Stevenson for snaps.”
Lattimore, you’ll note, doesn’t directly help the Bears’ pass rush, which ranks 25th in the NFL with just 14 total sacks and 30th in pass rush win rate. As such, people might be looking for a splashier move at edge like, say, Trey Hendrickson, whom the Bears will see this weekend if he doesn’t switch teams before then.
Furthermore, the four-time Pro Bowl corner and former Rookie of the Year has not played like anything worth the $18 million cap hit he carries for this year. He would almost certainly have to restructure his deal or have the Commanders be willing to eat most of the money for the Bears to entertain taking him on.
That said, Lattimore would give Chicago two things it could definitely use: corner depth and familiarity with his former coach Dennis Allen’s defense. Slot cornerback Kyler Gordon is currently on IR with a hamstring injury, and Tyrique Stevenson is working his way back from a shoulder issue that kept him out of last Sunday’s loss to the Ravens. With Jaylon Johnson already missing the season, that’s a lot of struggle at the cornerback spot.
Lattimore, who had just one interception this year and currently has the lowest PFF grade he’s ever had, isn’t a Pro Bowler at this point in his career. But not many guys would be better equipped to hit the ground running for his new team than he would. Allen coached Lattimore as a defensive coordinator or head coach in seven of nine NFL seasons before Allen was fired from the Saints in the 2023-2024 season. It might be no coincidence that his two worst seasons by far happened outside of Allen’s tutelage, leaving some hope that he’d be more than just a warm (and possibly expensive) body at corner.
If the Bears didn’t want to spend that much money on a new corner, ESPN’s Bill Barnwell floated the possibility of grabbing Alonte Taylor or Isaac Yiadom—two other former Dennis Allen-coached cornerbacks—off the trade block.
To be clear, finding another edge to help this pass rush would clearly be a better use of resources if Chicago can manage it. But if they can’t make...
