Browns-Bears Trade Grades: Chicago’s Acquisition Doesn’t Move the Needle

On Tuesday, the Bears and Browns beat the NFL’s 4 p.m. ET trade deadline, with Chicago picking up some pass-rushing help.

The Bears sent a sixth-round pick to Cleveland in exchange for edge rusher Joe Tryon-Shoyinka and a seventh-round choice, according to ESPN. The trade helps the Bears replace defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo, who was a key free-agent signing this offseason but tore his Achilles in Week 9 against the Bengals. Before getting injured, Odeyingbo had recorded two tackles for loss and one sack.

As for Tryon-Shoyinka, he’s without a sack in eight games with Cleveland while only playing 6% of the team’s defensive snaps. A 2021 first-round pick, this will be his third team after flaming out with the Buccaneers and Browns, combining for 15 sacks in four-plus seasons.

Bears

This trade doesn’t do much to move the needle. At this point, Tryon-Shoyinka is more of a roster filler than he is an actual impact player. Throughout 74 career games, he’s only notched more than one sack on two occasions, ironically one of them coming against Chicago in 2023.

That said, this is a low-cost move for the Bears. General manager Ryan Poles is moving back a couple of slots late in the draft to take a chance on a player once worthy of a first-round choice. Chicago needs some edge help and while Tryon-Shoyinka doesn’t have statistics to merit any significant playing time, he’ll help fill the void created by the Odeyingbo injury.

At 5–3, the Bears are desperately fighting to make the playoffs for the first time since the Mitchell Trubisky era. But Chicago has a slew of tough games ahead including Green Bay twice, Detroit, Minnesota, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Philadelphia.

Grade: C

Browns

This was an easy move for general manager Andrew Berry to make. Cleveland is a two-win team going nowhere once again, and Tryon-Shoyinka has done nothing to make Cleveland think about re-signing him once he becomes a free agent this offseason.

As mentioned above, Tryon-Shoyinka has barely played, only garnering 31 snaps on a Browns team that can rush the passer, led by Myles Garrett. He’s largely sat on the bench or played on special teams, where he’s gotten 27% of the snaps.

The pick swap isn’t going to make huge waves for Cleveland, but it improves the Browns’ draft position come 2026, and that’s the top priority right now.