Chicago sent its 2010 second-round pick to Tampa Bay for…
Chicago sent its 2010 second-round pick to Tampa Bay for defensive end Gaines Adams in October 2009. Adams played only 10 games for the Bears before his unexpected death in January 2010, an outcome no team could have foreseen. Tampa Bay later packaged the No. 42 pick with No. 153 to move up for Arrelious Benn, so the Buccaneers gained value without turning the deal into a franchise-changing haul.
Chicago Bears Received
- player Gaines Adams
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Received
- pick 2010 2nd round pick (42nd overall; packaged with pick 153 to Oakland for pick 39, used on Arrelious Benn; New England later selected Rob Gronkowski at 42)
Trade Analysis
The Bears entered October 2009 looking for pass-rush help and took a significant swing on Gaines Adams, the fourth overall pick in the 2007 draft. Tampa Bay had already decided that Adams was not developing as hoped and accepted Chicago's 2010 second-round selection. The deal gave the Bears a talented 26-year-old edge defender and gave the Buccaneers an unusually strong return for a player whose role had become uncertain.
Adams appeared in 10 games for Chicago and recorded 13 tackles, a sack and a forced fumble. His football story then ended in tragedy when he died unexpectedly in January 2010 from cardiac arrest caused by an enlarged heart. That circumstance matters to any fair hindsight assessment: Chicago could not reasonably have anticipated it, and the poor football return cannot be treated like an ordinary scouting failure. The grade reflects realized value, not blame for an unforeseeable event.
Tampa Bay's pick became No. 42. During the 2010 draft, the Buccaneers paired it with No. 153 to move up to No. 39 and select receiver Arrelious Benn. Benn flashed as a rookie but injuries repeatedly interrupted his career, and he never became the long-term offensive weapon Tampa hoped to acquire. The downstream history is also famous because New England ultimately obtained No. 42 and selected Rob Gronkowski, but Gronkowski was the Patriots' result, not Tampa Bay's direct return.
The Buccaneers still deserve the edge because they recovered second-round capital from a former top-five pick whose value had fallen. Their own use of that capital was only moderately successful, keeping the grade at B-. Chicago receives a D based on realized football value, with the important qualification that the outcome was shaped by tragedy rather than a predictable personnel mistake.