Bears acquire G/C Ryan Bates from Bills for 2024 5th-round pick
The Bears recently tried to acquire Ryan Bates in free agency, but the Bills beat them to the punch. Chicago finally got its man, acquiring Bates from Buffalo for a fifth-round pick.
This isn’t a bad trade for Chicago, but it’s a rather curious one. Bates is a solid depth player who can start at multiple positions on the offensive line. However, the Bears could have obtained someone comparable to him in free agency without surrendering any sort of draft compensation. It may have cost them more money, but they’ve got plenty of cap space.
Given the unnecessary use of resources, I can’t grade the Bears favorably. I like that they strengthened their blocking for Caleb Williams (presumably), but the Bills won this trade because they got a free draft pick out of it.
Grade for Bears – C
Grade for Bills – A-