The news broke on Tuesday that the Bears had agreed to a 1-year $10million deal with former Bengals and Cowboys QB Andy Dalton.
This news came as a shock to a lot of Bears fans who had hitched their hopes and dreams to a trade for Russell Wilson that was hyped for weeks prior to this move.
Multiple reports said that the Bears had been aggressive in trade negotiations with the Seattle Seahawks. Apparently, an offer of three 1st round picks, a 3rd round pick and two unnamed starting players was made and rejected. The Bears then turned their attention to other options.
Dalton made his press conference debut today and said that he was told he was being brought to Chicago to be the starter. That means no QB competition this year, it also means that the Bears are unlikely to try to sign or trade for anyone else anytime soon.
For me, if Dalton has been told that he will be the starter, then I would expect the Bears to try and draft a rookie QB in the upcoming NFL draft. I would also expect Nick Foles to be on his last legs in Chicago. Of course, who really knows when it comes to the Bears, we could be looking at Dalton at QB1 with Foles as his back-up for the season.
Was patience the key at QB?
A report from Ian Rapoport earlier today told us that the Raiders have asked Marcus Mariota to take a pay cut, and if refused then the team would likely move on.
With the potential for Mariota to be available in the coming days, should Ryan Pace had had more patience in trying to look for the right guy to play QB this season? I think so.
In my opinion, Mariota is a playmaker and better suited to run this offence than Dalton. Hopefully, Dalton proves me wrong.
It is possible that Pace got the knock back from Seattle and then hit the panic button and signed Dalton. To be fair, he wasn’t to know that Mariota could be available two days later, but here we are.
After listening to Dalton speak today, I would be shocked if the Bears made any more incoming QB moves this season, outside of the draft. Dalton said today that he would be okay with a rookie coming in should that be the way the Bears go in the draft next month.
Interestingly, Dalton said that he had not been in contact with Allen Robinson since joining the team. An Adam Schefter report today said that free agent WR Kenny Golladay had met yesterday with both Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy. Could Robinson soon be gone from Chicago? It’ll be interesting to see how this story develops. Golladay is a great replacement for Robinson, and if you can get him on a cheaper deal then it could make some sense.
There is a long, long way to go until the start of the season. Remember that time the Bears told Mike Glennon he was the starter and then one month later Trubisky is their 1st round pick? The roster is only beginning to take shape, lets see how it goes.