Quarterback is the biggest offseason need for the Chicago Bears this year. Actually, quarterback has been the biggest need for this franchise since time began.
We knew that after the end of season interviews with George McCaskey et al that both Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy are probably on their last legs in Chicago.
Ryan Pace need to find a quarterback who will make an immediate impact and get the Bears back to being a competitor THIS season.
So, what does that mean?
Well, it means that it’s unlikely that they would find their quarterback for today in this year’s draft. Sure, they may find their quarterback for the future, but with the 20th overall pick they would need to trade up quite a bit to get one of the real potential stars. There lies the problem. They would be trading for a potential star, we all know how the last trade up for a potential franchise QB went.
I just don’t see Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy betting their jobs on the potential of a rookie QB with likely a 3rd tier veteran backing him up.
I also don’t see them hanging their hat on the shaky nail that would be re-signing Mitch Trubisky or going with Nick Foles.
The only real viable option where you can find an instant impact player is through a trade for an established, proven talent from another team.
The Bears have been mentioned in every trade rumour this off-season and for good reason.
Guys like Gardner Minshew, Sam Darnold, Marcus Mariota and Alex Smith are not getting the job done. Again, none of them are guys that you want to bet your job on.
Carson Wentz was someone they probably enquired about, but never made any offer for. Let’s be honest, based off of last year, they would be better off with Mitch for another year.
The big potential trades that have been talked about for the last few weeks have been for the two guys that everyone wants to see in the navy and orange, Deshaun Watson and Russell Wilson.
We all know that Watson has been adamant for weeks that he wants out of Houston, its only a matter of time before that happens. If Pace managed to get Watson to Chicago then he would have finally made amends for the awful handling of the quarterback evaluation in the 2017 NFL draft, but the Texans don’t seem to be budging at the moment.
As for Wilson, talk of him moving on from Seattle became a thing a week ago. He’s not happy. He’s also listed Chicago as one of only four places he would want to be traded to, the others being New Orleans, Dallas and Las Vegas.
Let’s look at the Wilson situation. Firstly, he has a no trade clause in his contract – as does Watson – which means he gets a say in where he gets traded to. Secondly, he has named the four teams that he would want to go to in the event of a trade.
If we look at the 3 other teams, its easy to see why the Bears may be considered favourites to land him.
The Saints are in cap hell, and despite the wonders that front offices can perform with the cap I don’t see them being able to accommodate the move.
The Cowboys are on the verge of either tagging or re-signing Dak Prescott, of course they could go for Wilson over Dak, but I just don’t see it. They can keep a good starting caliber quarterback and keep all of their picks and players in the process.
As for the Raiders, Mike Mayock has come out this week and stated that “Derek Carr had his best year yet, under John Gruden” and that him and Gruden would “pound the table for Derek Carr”. To me that doesn’t scream Carr out, someone else in.
So that leave the Bears, they are desperate for a quarterback and one of the best in the league would be open to coming to them. According to ESPN’s Jeremy Fowler he likes the Bears coaches, offensive line and of course the Chicago market.
To add fuel to the fire, a report from Diana Russini from ESPN today claims that there have been calls answered by Seattle from teams interested in trading for Wilson.
Of course, all of this activity involving Wilson could spur on the Texans to also think about answering some of those calls. They don’t want to miss out on the best deal that they can possibly get for a guy who does not want to be there.
I think that either way, the Bears are in a great position to land a top quarterback this off-season. Its just a question of how much they want to give up and how persistent they are in trying to land their man.
If I’m Ryan Pace I’m on the phone to Houston and Seattle every hour, on the hour trying to get a deal done.