Welp, it's officially official: the Philadelphia Eagles are going all-in on the 2022 NFL season. Howie Roseman watched the San Francisco 49ers upgrade their offensive game plan with the addition of All-Pro multi-hyphenate Christian McCaffrey, saw Dallas bolster their D with one-time New York Giants second-round pick Johnathan Hankins, and most certainly kept tabs on seemingly every available player like Jerry Jeudy and Bradley Chubb before opting to call up his counterpart in Chicago, Ryan Poles, and make a deal for one of the more intriguing rentals on the 2022 NFL trade block: Robert Quinn.

Coming off of an 18.5 sack season as a standup rusher under then-defensive coordinator Sean Desai, Quinn's production hasn't translated as well to the scheme of new head coach/ex-Indianapolis Colts defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, who has moved the former St. Louis Ram into more of a hand-in-the-ground lineman. Now, Quinn gets to join an Eagles front that has excelled running five-man fronts with human tyrannosaurus Jordan Davis in the middle of the defense. Will it work out? Will Quinn recapture his 2021 glory and rip off sacks at a feverish clip on the way to another double-digit sack season – the first double-digit sack season by an Eagles player since Fletcher Cox in 2018 and the first by an Eagles edge rusher since Connor Barwin all the way back in 2014? Or will the presence of similarly prestigious rushers like Haason Reddick and Josh Sweat soak up the production Philly fans are hoping to secure from the 32-year-old journeyman before he packs up and finds a new home come March when Philly releases him from his expensive, non-garunteed contract?

Rating the Robert Quinn trade for the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears.

Philadelphia Eagles – A

When news broke that the Eagles would be without Derek Barnett for the remainder of the 2022 NFL season, it left the team with a clear deficiency on the edge. Sure, Brandon Graham has returned after missing almost the entirety of the 2021 season with a torn ACL, and the presence of Reddick as a hybrid SAM defensive end was expected to mine Jonathan Gannon's defensive scheme for even more pressures, but other than Josh Sweat, who earned his first Pro Bowl nod last season, the Eagles really didn't have much depth at the position.

No offense to Tarron Jackson, Kyron Johnson, and Patrick Johnson, who have played a combined 96 defensive snaps so far this season, but Quinn is one heck of an upgrade at DE3.

Now expected to rotate in with Graham and Sweat in Gannon's four-man front while “starting” opposite Reddick when Philly rocks a five-man look, Quinn will be afforded plenty of chances to rush the passer without having to be overly concerned with setting a strong edge against the run and should see his pass-rushing effectiveness on a snap-to-snap basis jump up considerably as a result.

So why, you may ask, isn't this an A+? From a talent/need/want standpoint, it 100 percent is, but folks will look at a player like Bradley Chubb, who is just 26 reportedly available, and wonder if trading a bit more for a more complete lineman would have been a better use of resources, even if it would have required a big-money, long-term contract extension to make the deal with it. Still, even if that would have been a tough ask to fit under the cap, it's hard to imagine the Eagles will keep Quinn long-term unless he's willing to accept a team-friendly, Chris Long-style renegotiated contract.

Chicago Bears – B-

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Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams holding up an American football jersey. Several money and eyeball emojis are all around him.

Ben Strauss ·

Quinyon Mitchell with a Philadelphia Eagles logo behind him, Nick Saban with his eyes popping out next to Mitchell.

Andrew Meyers ·

Caleb Williams in the middle, Drew Brees, Russell Wilson around him, and Chicago Bears wallpaper in the background

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On paper, the Chicago Bears got good value on Wednesday, October 26th. They exchanged a player in his 30s on an expiring deal who had only generated one sack over seven games for a fourth-round pick and can now either use the pick to acquire players who fit Eberflus' scheme or select a youngster who will be under contract for four years.

Unfortunately, the NFL isn't Madden, and saying goodbye to a player like Quinn, who is so popular in the locker room that Roquan Smith got emotional talking about his exit, is not a great way to reward the roster after securing an impressive win over the New England Patriots in Week 7. At 3-4, the Bears are currently tied with the Green Bay Packers for second place in the NFC North – minus the tie-breaker – and could theoretically still make it to the playoffs if they string together a solid enough end to the season as their offense continues to gel.

Even if trading away Quinn isn't totally throwing in the towel on the 2022 NFL season, it certainly doesn't send the best message about the squad's ability, not to mention desire, to compete any time soon.