Montez Sweat has been suspended two games without pay for violating the NFL’s performance-enhancing substances policy, the league announced on Tuesday.
The Chicago Bears defensive end will miss Sunday’s game at Atlanta and the following Thursday night game against the New England Patriots. He is eligible to return Oct. 23, the day after the Patriots game, which lines up for the Bears’ Week 8 Monday night matchup with the Seattle Seahawks.
The 30-year-old Sweat has started all five games this season, playing 69 percent of the Bears’ defensive snaps. He has two sacks and seven tackles.
Why was Montez Sweat suspended?
The NFL doesn’t disclose details or the substance that Sweat tested positive for. A two-game suspension is typically the penalty for a first offense involving a stimulant, diuretic or masking agent.
How the Montez Sweat suspension hurts the Bears
Sweat is the Bears’ highest-paid player, carrying a $25.08 million cap hit this season. The Bears sent a second-round pick to Washington for him in 2023 and handed him a four-year, $98 million extension days later.
Last year Sweat finally looked like that guy with 10 sacks. Ben Johnson called it the best season of his career as we headed into this one.
But he hasn’t been a huge difference-maker across the Bears’ first five games and now he’s forcing disruption onto a unit that was already suffering from the injury that Dayo Odeyingbo suffered in the loss to the Packers on Sunday.
According to Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune, the Bears are expected to bring defensive end Shemar Turner back to the 53-man roster from the physically unable to perform list.
Beyond that, expect Johnson and the defensive staff to lean on rotation and scheme to manufacture pressure they were already struggling to produce.