Minutes after a report indicating the Chiefs were exploring a Joe Thuney trade surfaced, the Bears are expected to swoop in. Chicago is on track to land the All-Pro guard from Kansas City, NFL.com’s Ian Rapoport reports.
This will be the second straight day the Bears will have reached a trade agreement involving a guard, with the team agreeing to obtain Jonah Jackson from the Rams on Tuesday. Chicago GM Ryan Poles was in Kansas City when the Chiefs signed Thuney in 2021.
The Bears are rumored to be sending a fourth-round pick to the Chiefs, Rapoport adds. It will be a 2026 fourth exchanged, ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports. This move will create $16MM in cap space for the Chiefs while leaving them with $10.7MM in dead money. Moving $16MM off the Chiefs’ books will slide them closer to cap compliance, though they entered Wednesday more than $18MM over.
Poles’ team was also mentioned as a potential destination for Trey Smith, but the Chiefs kept the younger of their two Pro Bowl guards via the franchise tag. Chicago will take Thuney, who just completed his age-32 season. One season remains on Thuney’s five-year, $80MM contract. Thuney is due a $15.5MM base salary in 2025; Jackson’s Rams-designed contract calls for a $9MM 2025 base.
Coming off back-to-back first-team All-Pro seasons, Thuney has started all 146 games he has played. The ex-Patriots third-round pick has four Super Bowl rings. A bid for a fifth did not go well, as the Chiefs played Thuney at left tackle during a blowout loss to the Eagles, but he has been one of the league’s best guards for many years.
In addition to Thuney’s two first-team honors, he has two second-team All-Pro accolades on his resume. Kansas City overhauled its O-line after the Buccaneers battered Patrick Mahomes in Super Bowl LV, which featured the team missing both its starting tackles. The Chiefs acquired Thuney, Smith, Orlando Brown Jr. and Creed Humphrey during the 2021 offseason. That quartet helped them win Super Bowl LVII, with the Thuney-Humphrey-Smith trio being in place for the AFC West superpower’s past two Super Bowl trips as well.
The Chiefs gave Humphrey a center-record extension last year and have right tackle Jawaan Taylor locked in for the 2025 season. Even though the latter has not played especially well in Kansas City, he was one of the 2023 free agent market’s top pieces. That allowed him to a secure a contact that guaranteed his 2025 base salary by March 2024. The Chiefs now have Smith tied to a $23.2MM franchise tag and are pursuing a true left tackle. More work will need to be done to reach cap compliance and carve out spending room, and the team will part with Thuney on the way.
The Bears whiffed on their Nate Davis signing in 2023, and the team has Teven Jenkins days from free agency. Although Jenkins made a push for a Bears extension last year, it appears the former second-round pick will head elsewhere. This trade also comes a year after the Bears acquired Ryan Bates from the Bills, who had previously matched a Bears RFA offer sheet for the veteran guard. With Ben Johnson coming in, his team will use an ex-Lion and a decorated AFC blocker at guard in 2025.
Chicago still has tackle starters Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright under contract, but center Coleman Shelton is back on track for free agency. More work may remain for the Bears, who are throwing resources at protecting Caleb Williams in 2025. Williams took an NFL-high 68 sacks last season. That total ranks in the top five over the past 15 NFL seasons. While the team traded for two pricey guards, the moves have only cost Day 3 picks.
One of the players the Chiefs tried at left tackle before moving Thuney over, Kingsley Suamataia looks likely to have a shot to replace him at LG. A position change may be on tap for the 2024 second-round tackle, Rapoport adds. The Chiefs benched Suamataia in Week 2, with Thuney eventually proving a more reliable option — before Super Bowl LIX — at LT. Three yeras remain on Suamataia’s rookie contract.
Wow!
Wow. I guess the Chiefs are choosing the younger guard over the older one, but this feels like a coup for Chicago.
They had to make some choices. Taylor is terrible, but I don’t think they can get much relief until next year. So they parted with Thuney before his contract year and will probably draft another guard. They’re going to miss his versatility for sure though.
His versatility was on display,getting beaten like a drum by the birds defensive line. The chiefs are old news.
That’s the best defensive line in football. It was good enough to beat the Bills and Texans.
Best defensive line? Last I knew, he plays offense
Realfootballfan is obviously referring to the Eagles defensive line. Shouldn’t take a genius to figure that out based on the comment he replied to. So yeah, I think he knows Thuney plays OL.
Wow. Now that’s a solid pickup for the Bears to help protect Caleb
Chiefs saving 16 million on the cap. Still have a ways to go to be a part of FA.
Another cap casualty. Their O-Line was already in need of tackles now they’ll have to find guards in the draft.
That Mahomes contract is finally catching up to them.
I don’t think feeling like they should only pay two out of three interior linemen big money and choosing the younger two is that big a deal. Having a dynasty means doing some resetting as they go.
This year for sure it hurts because most of Mahomes’s cap hit is in bonus money and they can’t move that. They can only move around 15 million to make cap space.
They can move a lot more than that if they rework his deal. I’m guessing they do that this offseason.
They need Jones and Taylor to re-work their deals. They could save 30 million with those two.
Yes it is. KC is typically skilled at manipulating the cap. But, eventually it catches up with the organization. The next team to watch will be Detroit over the next year and two years out. Eventually those extensions made last season along with rookie contracts expiring over the two years will lead to some tough decisions.
The Mahomes contract is not a problem, guys. There’s wiggle room. It’s going to be reworked. More to the point, even teams with quarterbacks on rookie deals don’t pay all three interior linemen top of the market money.
Go Bills!
Ryan Bates is are true center but was forced to play out of position.I BELIEVE TEVER JENKINS ALWAYS WAS A RIGHT GAURD AND WOULD BE PERFECT NEXT TO WRIGHT on the right side – please try again more lineman who is young or two if the price is right Bears need a good year from him over on that side
Mr.Poles fixed the left side of the of the line.now resign Jenkins to play next to WRIGHT ON THE RIGHT SIDE line is almost done but can we get KALID MACK BACK AT OLB HE STILL HAS IT IN HIS TANK & love Chicago.
Teven Jenkins is injury prone. When he signs for guaranteed money there is no way he’s a good bet to be on the field. He busted his butt to be out there this past year because he was playing for his next contract; even so … he still missed a lot of time. Hard pass. Change of scenery will be in our best interest.
Probably wasn’t on the table for Houston, but this is what they should be doing. Proven pieces to protect your franchise QB. They’ve already started down the same road that they were on when they had Watson with Stroud. The Bear line has been terrible for about a decade, so at least they’re finally getting proven pieces in place to fix that.
Texans have options to address their oline issues
Their best lineup for 2026 would be
Tunsil, Howard, Peterson, Mason, and Fisher
They also have former 2nd round Scruggs in play for C or a G spot and hired a new oline coach, well fired the old one and promoted within
And could also either add someone via free agency or draft.
Juice Scruggs is terrible at football.
Well they got their 2 OL from other places and good ones on short deals which I like. But they still need to draft Young guys to take their place someday that they can develop. Obviously they thought these guys were cheaper than chasing FA lineman at an extra cost. I like the thinking. Thuney is a better G than T so I’d try to keep him there than move him to C. I know he’s played there but this is about building the best line they can. So far so good. Membou is looking more like the pick to me. Still have like 32 million to sign an Edge. And draft one too. I like the thinking so far.
They have like 50M left in cap space
Of which they need 15 million just to sign their draft picks. Everybody forgets that.
WOW. I was excited when I thought we were going to sign Zeitler as that reliable veteran. This is next level. And for a 2026 4th rounder I don’t hate it at all. Hopefully we can sign him to a 2-3 year extension at a reasonable price and draft someone to develop behind him.
Changing of the Guard literally lol
I’ll see myself out
I’m here all week, try the veal!
Budum tss
Sure we talk football, but we can have fun too.
You sure?
LOL
Now hearing talk, again to stress just talk that the Bears are very interested in bringing back Coleman Shelton. We’ll see. If true, they are likely done with the O-Linemen in the short term-2025. Now draft some younger players and develop them over the next year or two as replacements.
I agree.
I understand 2025 is not supposed to be a strong draft for centers. So bringing back Shelton on a one year reasonable contract as a stopgap is a good idea… meanwhile they could continue to look for a better C but have Shelton as their fallback
From the outside, it looks like Poles and BJ are working together as Poles has a history with Thuney and BJ with Jackson.
Bears are really making some moves with that offensive line. The run game will thank them, I’m sure.
BJ does like to run the ball. I suspect the Bears will add another RB to compliment Swift.