One lesson to learn about the NFL is many say it stands for Not For Long. That means things don’t last forever in this league, especially regarding the idea that you’ll spend your entire career playing for one team. Very few players ever get to experience that. Montez Sweat had hoped he’d be one of them. The Washington Commanders made him a 1st round pick in 2019. After a slow start to his career, he’d morphed into one of the NFC’s best pass rushers over the past two seasons. Nothing indicated Washington was unhappy with him—quite the opposite.
So one can imagine he was blindsided when the Chicago Bears traded for him last October, sending a 2nd round pick to Washington in the deal. When he arrived, Sweat looked unemotional about the situation. He merely stated he was trying to adjust to his new surroundings. Maybe then he’d have a better grasp on what to feel. It turns out the defensive end had been hiding a cold fury. Dan Pompei of The Athletic revealed in his latest article that Sweat was irate about the trade.
The Commanders defense just finished a tape review of a loss to the Philadelphia Eagles on a Monday in October, and the players were making their way to the practice field. That’s when Sweat’s phone lit up. Bilbo told him he had been traded to the Bears for a second-round pick.
“I was shocked,” he says. “In disbelief.”
Coach Ron Rivera texted Sweat, asking him to come to his office to talk about the trade. Sweat didn’t want to talk about it — he wanted to yell about it.
“I was very emotional,” he says. “I was angry and probably said some things I wanted to take back. Maybe.”
He didn’t realize a different climate would produce more, bigger and sweeter fruit.
The prospect of change, Sweat now realizes, frightened him. If he had to be traded anywhere, he hoped it would be to Atlanta, where Sweat has a home, his family lives and he trains in the offseason at DSA Performance…
…The Bears thought — maybe knew — he could be better than ever and were prepared to say so with their checkbook. The contract negotiations were hastened, Sweat says, when he told his new team, “I’m not getting on the field until something is worked out.”
He was in the midst of his best season as a pro. Teammates Jonathan Allen and Da’Ron Payne had already gotten their extensions. Why was he the one getting traded instead? For a 2nd round pick, no less. They couldn’t even get a 1st. He likely knew Chicago’s reputation at that point. They’d had one winning season in the past ten years. Sweat likely feared he was walking into an even worse quagmire than the one he left behind. It didn’t take long to realize his assumptions were way off.
Rather than being combative at his stand-offish approach, GM Ryan Poles calmly acquiesced to his desires to get a deal done. Within four days of his arrival, Montez Sweat had a new $98 million deal. Not only that, but it didn’t take long for him to recognize he’d landed in a perfect situation. Matt Eberflus’ scheme allowed him to play more aggressively, getting up the field to attack the quarterback. For the first time in his career, Sweat felt free. Looking back, he wonders why his reaction was so bad.
It goes back to people not liking change.
