The Chicago Bears will no doubt be in the market for a veteran quarterback this offseason to challenge Mitchell Trubisky. Considering the Bears’ salary cap situation, they’re likely going to target an experienced quarterback they can sign to a low-end contract.
It feels like every free agent quarterback has been linked to the Bears in some way. Marcus Mariota. Philip Rivers. Teddy Bridgewater. Yes, even Tom Brady.
Bill Barnwell suggests a scenario where the Bears land future Hall-of-Fame QB Brady. Sure, it’s far-fetched. Of course, it’s not going to happen. But strap in. We’re going to navigate ESPN’s whirlwind of a trade scenario.
With the uncertainty that comes with Trubisky, the Bears would sign Brady to a four-year $110 million deal this offseason.
Trying to link up with the NFL’s best non-Patriots defense and win one more Super Bowl, Brady signs what really amounts to a one-year, $35 million deal with voidable years attached. Allen Robinson, weeping after six years of catching passes from Blake Bortles and Mitchell Trubisky, hands Brady his No. 12 jersey at the G.O.A.T.’s unveiling.
As a result, the Bears would trade outside linebacker Leonard Floyd to the Giants for a sixth-round pick to free up salary cap space.
To free up cap room, the Bears need to move on from their former first-round pick, who has $13.2 million in unguaranteed salary left on the final year of his rookie deal. A Giants team desperate for pass-rushing help sends a late-round pick to the Bears for Floyd, whose sack total has dropped each season since a seven-sack campaign in 2016.
Given, in this scenario, that the Bears have signed Brady as their new quarterback, Chicago would have no use for Trubisky. The Bears would trade Trubisky and a seventh round pick to the Dolphins for Josh Rosen.
With the Trubisky era coming to a close in Chicago, the Bears decline his fifth-year option and free up much-needed cap space by trading him and a seventh-round pick to the Dolphins for a cheaper backup in Rosen, who joins his third team in three years. Miami passes on a quarterback in the 2020 draft and evaluates Trubisky behind Ryan Fitzpatrick.
Barnwell also predicts three other moves that would happen as a result of Brady being signed by the Bears. The Patriots, now without a quarterback, would trade a third-round pick to the Panthers for Cam Newton.
With the Panthers then in need for a quarterback, they would sign Marcus Mariota to a two-year deal worth $18 million. Barnwell suggests that quarterback Teddy Bridgewater would then sign a lucrative four-year deal with the Colts worth upwards of $120 million.
This is all wild speculation at this point. But it’s fun to imagine the insanity that were to ensue if it panned out.
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