Before landing rookie quarterback Justin Fields and signing Andy Dalton, the Bears were doing a great deal of exploration in the quarterback market earlier this offseason.
They were mentioned in conjunction with potential trades, like Russell Wilson and Deshaun Watson, as well as all of the big trades that went down, including Matthew Stafford, who landed with the Rams back in January.
When Bears head coach Matt Nagy met with the media on Thursday, he shed light on an interesting tidbit about where he was when the Stafford trade went down.
Nagy was in Cabo when the Rams traded for Stafford, which was ironically where Rams head coach Sean McVay and Stafford were, as well as 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan, another team that did their due diligence on the quarterback market this offseason.
Interesting… guess where Matt Nagy was when the Matthew Stafford trade happened?
Cabo.
Sean McVay and Stafford were there too. So was Kyle Shanahan. Hmm…
— Adam Hoge (@AdamHoge) September 9, 2021
The Bears were among several teams that reportedly offered the Lions more than a first-round pick for Stafford, according to Ian Rapoport, so the interest was certainly real.
How close Chicago was to actually trading for Stafford, we’ll never know. But you figure that Detroit wouldn’t have wanted to trade within the division, so the likelihood wasn’t great.
You could certainly argue things worked out for the best as the Bears landed their franchise quarterback in Fields, who will be on a rookie deal for the next four years, and could very well establish himself as the franchise’s best quarterback when all is said and done.
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