Montez Sweat has no regrets about the trade to Chicago

During a recent interview with Dan Pompei of The Athletic, Chicago Bears defensive end Montez Sweat talked openly about his childhood and his football journey.

Inevitably, the conversation turned towards the trade that sent Sweat from the Washington Commanders to the Bears, and Sweat got brutally honest.

“I was shocked. In disbelief,” he told Pompei. “I was angry and probably said some things I wanted to take back.”

It sounds like he was notified of the trade by text just as he was walking to Washington’s practice field. It’s easy to understand how emotional this made him, learning of a life-changing move over a text message. Even in his first interview with the public in Chicago, you could sense that Sweat was still in a pretty bad mood.

Sweat also mentioned that he had always wanted to stay in Washington and get that big contract with the team that drafted him. If not, his next choice was to be traded to Atlanta, where he grew up. Instead, he found himself up north. “It felt like somebody kind of gave up on you, like you aren’t good enough anymore,” he said.

But any hard feelings were soon left behind. Just four days after the trade, GM Ryan Poles rewarded Montez Sweat with a massive contract: a four-year deal worth a total of $105 million, and nearly $73 million of that is guaranteed. That’s generational wealth for the young defensive end, and it’s empowered him to play better than ever.

Says Sweat, “I’m playing more free, not worried about getting hurt. I thought [a contract extension] would happen in Washington, but that’s not how it played out, and I have no regrets about how it did. This is where God wanted me to be, in Chicago.”

It also helps that head coach Matt Eberflus has made Sweat feel like not just a valued member of the team but a leader. Under Eberflus’s scheme, there’s only one thing Sweat needs to worry about: Getting to the quarterback. That’s the kind of playing style that a dominant athlete like Sweat craves. Eberflus has even sought Sweat’s input on whether the team should practice indoors or outdoors on certain days.

Though it got off to a rough start, it sounds like this arranged marriage between Sweat and the Bears has the legs to go the distance.