NEWSLETTER
If you were looking to feel better about what the Bears did to ensure their shot at drafting quarterback Mitch Trubisky, look no further.
Pro Football Talk’s Michael David Smith reports that in an interview with SiriusXM NFL Radio, Tennessee Titans GM Jon Robinson confirmed that his team – which owned the fifth pick in the draft – was taking calls from multiple teams looking to trade up.
That isn’t much of a shocker, considering that the cost of trading to slide into the fifth spot of the draft was likely coming at a much cheaper price than what the 49ers or Bears would have been asking for in exchange for the second or third pick, respectively. HOWEVER, what makes this notable is that Robinson said the calls stopped coming as soon as the Bears swapped picks with the 49ers and picked Trubisky. Intrigue.
Two things to note, here.
First, Bears GM Ryan Pace said the team was fielding calls from teams wanting to trade up with the intent of drafting a quarterback. And, of course, the Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans both eventually moved up to do just that. If you want to play a game of connect the dots, it’s possible (if not probable) that those were the teams burning up the Titans’ phone lines.
Second, it’s not out of the realm of possibility that Trubisky was valued higher than either Patrick Mahomes (chosen by the Chiefs) and Deshaun Watson (picked by the Texans) who were both taken just outside of the top 10. In fact, this could count as a roundabout way of confirming that the Bears drafted the quarterback teams believed to be the best at his position.
Outside of that, there isn’t much to celebrate here. The Bears still paid a pretty penny to ensure the chance to draft Trubisky. But it’s growing more apparent that they weren’t the only ones after him.
