NEWSLETTER
I know that many Bears fans aren’t too enthralled by the idea of Buccaneers backup quarterback Mike Glennon being the team’s top target to replace Jay Cutler, but an earlier report indicated just that.
And, rather than being some kind of isolated, erroneous whisper, there’s more chatter coming out of the Combine that, yes, the Bears are legitimately interested in aggressively targeting the 27-year-old QB:
From what I heard at the NFL combine, the Bears will be the team that pushes hardest for QB Mike Glennon.
— Rick Stroud (@NFLSTROUD) March 4, 2017
Stroud, if you’re unfamiliar, covers the Bucs for the Tampa Bay Times, so he’s likely got some credibility here.
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Adding to Stroud’s report, Tony Pauline goes even further, saying “the vast majority of people [at the Combine] believe Glennon will be wearing a Chicago Bears uniform in 2017.”
Well, then. That’s certainly putting it strongly.
Let’s be quite clear that rumors and outside expectations don’t always dictate an outcome. As we’ve discussed before, the Bears have indicated they have a variety of possible quarterback paths in mind, and it is in their interest not to make so publicly obvious their Plan A. That is to say, it’s entirely possible that these rumors of heavy interest in Glennon are – for one hypothetical example – designed to apply pressure on the Patriots to take a more realistic trade offer for back-up Jimmy Garoppolo before the Bears move on to a player whom they can acquire for only money.
Of course, it’s also entirely possible that the reason there are so many rumors connecting the Bears to Glennon is because they really want Glennon.
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At 27, there is still plenty of time for Glennon to develop into a multi-year starting quarterback for the Bears, and emerge as a franchise-type guy. Is the upside actually there, though? If the Bears pursue him aggressively, they must believe so, given that they’ve already got a bridge quarterback available to them in impending free agent Brian Hoyer. There’s little reason to spend $10 to $12 million annually on Glennon if your primary goal is to draft a top quarterback prospect and develop him over the next year or two (because, again, you could just do that with Hoyer at the helm more cheaply and with less friction).
Glennon hasn’t had the opportunity to show much of anything the past two years, sitting behind Jameis Winston. Glennon was solid in 2013 and 2014, but it wasn’t enough to sway the Bucs from tabbing Winston at 1-1 in 2015, and then installing him immediately as their franchise quarterback.
To be sure, signing Glennon does not preclude the Bears from taking a quarterback in the draft and developing him in tandem with giving Glennon an opportunity to really grab the reins for the next few years (in fact, that would be ideal). But signing Glennon probably would take the Bears out of the mix for taking a quarterback with the number three overall pick – of course, given the questions about this particular draft class of QBs, maybe that’s not the worst thing in the world.
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Free agency opens up on Tuesday at 3pm CT when teams can begin negotiating with new players. Signings can become official two days later, on Thursday, March 9 at 3pm CT. Buckle up. It’s going to be a crazy week.
