The Chicago Bears made their quarterback decision two months ago. Unwilling to wait for the market to unfold, GM Ryan Pace decided to trade a 4th round pick to the Jacksonville Jaguars for Nick Foles. It makes sense. The 31-year old had a ton of connections to the coaching staff including head coach Matt Nagy. He’s a former Super Bowl MVP with loads of respect and credibility around the league. Still, some wonder even now why the Bears didn’t wait. Perhaps for somebody like Andy Dalton.
The former three-time Pro Bowler was released by the Cincinnati Bengals this past week. It ended one of the more underrated runs of the past decade. Many felt Chicago would’ve been a perfect landing spot for him. So why didn’t it happen? Well, according to Paul Dehner Jr. of The Athletic? It almost did.
“The Bengals were very close to making that happen with the Bears in March. Chicago instead dealt a fourth-round pick for Nick Foles. In that scenario – the clear breaking point in this process – the Bengals would have received some form of compensation, salary cap relief and Dalton a landing spot valuing his presence.
The music changed upon the trade falling apart. No teams were willing to take on that salary. The QB carousel spun hard and everyone picked their player, Indianapolis and Tampa Bay the most notable potential destinations taken off the board.
The NFL collectively called the Bengals’ bluff on their quarterback of the last nine years. No conversations ever reached the point of talking specifically about compensation.”
Andy Dalton issue came down to money for the Bears
As is typical in a business like the NFL, money is always the deciding factor. Dalton was due to make $17.7 million in 2020. That is way too much. Combine this with other teams knowing there was no way the Bengals could eat some money from that deal, they just decided to wait it out. Sure enough, Dalton was cut. The Bears for their part had no desire to wait. They wanted to get their QB room settled as soon as possible. Thus the trade for Foles went down.
Dalton ended up signing to become the backup for the Dallas Cowboys. Something he says was driven by the entire COVID-19 pandemic. He has a home in the Dallas area so it made logical sense. This makes one wonder if the Bears would’ve been able to sign him even if they’d waited. Nobody knows for sure. All one can say is they probably made the right decision not taking on that overinflated salary. By getting Foles, who drastically restructured his contract, it enabled them to make a series of other moves to bolster the roster.
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