CHICAGO — The Bears are adding depth to their injury-riddled defensive line by trading for Cleveland Browns defensive end Joe Tryon-Shoyinka, a source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter on Tuesday.
Two days after starting edge rusher Dayo Odeyingbo suffered a season-ending Achillies tear against the Cincinnati Bengals, the Bears agreed to send a 2026 sixth-round pick to the Browns in exchange for Tryon-Shoyinka and a 2026 seventh-rounder, sources said.
Tryon-Shoyinkaa was selected by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with the 32nd pick in 2021. He became a free agent after the Bucs declined to pick up his fifth-year option and signed a one-year, $4.75 million contract with Cleveland this offseason.
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The 26-year-old defensive end struggled to establish a role in a deep defensive line room where he was behind defensive ends Myles Garrett, Alex Wright and Isaiah McGuire. Tryon-Shoyinka logged 31 snaps on defense where he recorded nine tackles and one quarterback hit. He also played 58 snaps on special teams over eight games.
In Chicago, he projects as part of a rotation at defensive end to fill the void created by Odeyingbo’s injury. Bears edge rusher Austin Booker made his 2025 debut against the Bengals in Week 9 after spending the first seven games of the season on injured reserve. Booker recorded a sack and two tackles in Cincinnati.
The Bears now have three healthy defensive ends opposite Montez Sweat: Booker, Tryon-Shoyikna and Daniel Hardy.
“It’s one of those deals where it feels like we take some strides at particular positions, then we take some steps back,” coach Ben Johnson said Monday. “It’s wild. I felt like we had a solution there with [rookie] Shemar [Turner] at defensive end a couple weeks ago. Then we lost him. Then we finally get Booker back and we lose Dayo. So it’s a little bit of give and take. That’s, of course, the NFL season. That happens. And so we’ll have guys step up.”
Johnson also said he was hopeful that the Bears could see defensive end Dominique Robinson return from the ankle injury he suffered in Baltimore two weeks ago. The Bears’ pass defense ranks 25th (237.6 yards per game) and is 18th in sack percentage (6.59%).
Tryon-Shoyinka recorded 15 sacks during his four seasons in Tampa Bay and has appeared in 74 games with 45 starts over five seasons.
Chicago spent considerable resources on defensive line moves this offseason that have not panned out. The Bears gave Odeyingbo a three-year, $48 million contract with $32 million guaranteed in free agency despite his having started only 19 games prior to the 2025 season. (He missed a significant portion his rookie year in 2021 after recovering from an Achillies tear that happened in college.) Odeyingbo accounted for 21 tackles, four quarterback hits and one sack in eight games.
The Bears also paid defensive tackle Grady Jarrett $43.5 million on a three-year deal ($28.5 million) in March before using a third-round pick to draft Turner out of Texas A&M. Jarrett missed three of Chicago’s first eight games with a knee injury while Turner suffered a season-ending knee injury in Baltimore and was placed on injured reserve last week.
