Talking Through the Nick Foles Trade and Other Bears Bullets

What is the weirdest thing someone could be hoarding during a trip to the grocery store in times like these? As far as I’m concerned, it’s bay leaves. But when I posed the question to a friend, they said cake pans. Since then, I’ve been wanting to bake a cake. But because of the social distancing I am participating in as I do my part to stem the spread of COVID-19, I’m hesitant to bake because I don’t really have anyone to share with when it’s done. What a shame.

ICYMI, the Chicago Bears traded for a quarterback:

Per @NFLNetwork reports, we have traded for QB @NickFoles.
(NFL policy currently prohibits teams from making any official announcements.)@SNICKERS | #DaBears

— Chicago Bears (@ChicagoBears) March 18, 2020

Before we get the ball rolling, I’m still not over the ridiculousness of free agent announcement rollout. And it isn’t just the Bears being handcuffed by the NFL’s prohibitive policy. But still … the wide-ranging silencing of news sharing from teams is absurd. Teams can’t make an official announcement for a transaction via its social media channels, but it can use a social media post as a vehicle for advertisement? What a world!

Could this be the reason for the series of vague posts around the league?

Speaking 2 people around the league, physicals on new contracts will be handled 1of 2 ways;

Players will sign contracts and payments in those contracts will be conditioned on a physical in the future.

Player & Club agree to a neutral physician for the player 2 take his physical

— Mike Tannenbaum (@RealTannenbaum) March 18, 2020

I’m still floored by the trade. Not the player. In fact, Foles is everything the team sought to add to the quarterbacks room when reports surfaced at the NFL Scouting Combine that Chicago was looking for a veteran presence to compete with (or even supplant) Mitch Trubisky. However, the way the Bears went about it feels eerily similar to their pursuit of Mitch Trubisky in the 2017 NFL Draft in that it was a laser-focus search on someone who fits a specific mold, concept, or idea. The major difference is that rather than acting like a rogue rebel, Pace had the input of an offensive brain-trust steeped in quarterback knowledge and development. Hopefully, that makes a difference in the grand scheme of things.

The timing of the deal is unsettling, too. I was browsing through OverTheCap.com’s team pages after the deal went down and realized there was a moment in which the  acquisition of Foles temporarily put the Bears over the salary cap. Best-case scenario, it was a minor annoyance to restructure a contract to make everything fit ahead of the 3 p.m. CT deadline. Worst-case scenario was the Bears being over the freaking salary cap at the start of the new league year because it felt necessary to get a Nick Foles trade done. That’s madness.

On a brighter note, running back David Montgomery stands to benefit from the move:

Nick Foles trade was meh I get it

BUT… Foles could be interesting for
D Montgomery & his pass game role. Running QBs are less likely to check it down.

2019: Minshew vs Foles

w/ Foles: L Fournette Tg Share:
15.9% —> 21.4%
——————————————-

David Montgomery= Possible Tgs ⬆️ pic.twitter.com/33O40j6AEL

— Derek Brown (@DBro_FFB) March 19, 2020

I understand if the Bears wanted Foles. But there is no market developing for him or any of the quarterbacks of his ilk. Andy Dalton is still on the Bengals, who are going to draft Joe Burrow as soon as the league figures out what it is doing for the draft. Cam Newton is still on the Panthers, a team that torpedoed its trade leverage with how it pushed the face of its franchise out the door for Teddy Bridgewater. Dalton, Newton, and Foles are all in the same asset class. Why overpay for one then there are two similar players available?

JJ Stankevitz of NBC Sports Chicago dives into some reasons why the Bears opted to go the Foles route:

The #Bears chose Nick Foles over other options, like Andy Dalton and Cam Newton, because of one big word: Trust. https://t.co/OOAr5p0EZg

— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) March 19, 2020

The timing of the #Bears’ move to grab Nick Foles does make sense: https://t.co/bcx3iPw5Ml

— JJ Stankevitz (@JJStankevitz) March 19, 2020

A small thing thing that troubles me is that Chicago has passed on three players who reportedly had an interest in coming to town. During the 2019 season, reports surfaced that Cam Newton would welcome a trade to the Bears. Earlier this offseason, Greg Olsen expressed his hope that the Bears would hit him up when they went searching for tight end help. Eric Ebron, a Pro Bowler as recently as 2018, made hints on social media that he would be interested in playing in Chicago. And yet, the Bears passed on each. I’m not saying that they should have moved earth to sign any or all of these players, but not kicking the tires on them doesn’t sit right with me. Who knows, maybe they did and the cost of business was just too high? Let’s go with that. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

A receiver on the rise is going to miss Foles’ calming presence:

Damn.. thank you for helping me learn defensive coverages, my first professional touchdown, telling me I was gonna be a baller in OTAs months before the season even started, and just being a genuine person from the start! Pray you ball in Chicago big bro! pic.twitter.com/XwpxpAfwDG

— DJ Chark (@DJChark82) March 18, 2020

Here’s some good news: Chicago’s projected win totals for 2020 are UP after yesterday’s news:

Notable NFL Win Total Shifts 3/16-3/18

⏬Patroits: 10.5/8.5
⏫Bucs: 7.5/9.5
⬆️Colts: 8/8.5
⬇️Texans: 8.5/8
⬇️Panthers: 6/5.5
⬇️49ers: 11/10.5
⬆️Bears: 7.5/8.5

— PointsBet Sportsbook (@PointsBetUSA) March 18, 2020

There is so much more to dive into with regards to the new QB in town. And we’ll get to all of it in due time. Hang in there, friends. We’ll get through this together.

The NFL is doing a really cool thing:

NFL offers fans free access to NFL Game Passhttps://t.co/ICNZdtBQqk pic.twitter.com/dLQQmQzz9B

— Around The NFL (@AroundTheNFL) March 18, 2020

The shutdown of the live sports world has fans in search of entertainment. With that in mind, the NFL is handing out an olive branch by offering free access to NFL Game Pass. It’s a library’s worth of digital football programming that features regular season and postseason games, NFL Films series, player and coach film sessions, and more. I use Game Pass to re-watch games and dig through film, so I have no qualms about suggesting you give it a whirl.

Want to watch Mitch Trubisky’s six-touchdown performance against the Bucs in 2018? It’s there. Curious about what it looked like when Trubisky wasn’t allowed to pass the ball against the Panthers? That game is there, too. Maybe you want to see the Bears’ last postseason victory? Yep, It’s available. I understand that yourself in a time of quarantine is a challenge. But at least there is a free football option for you.

Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk has a line-by-line look at the terms of Robert Quinn’s new deal.

A potential Bears free agent safety target is off the boards:

Former #Raiders safety Karl Joseph is signing with the #Browns, source said. It’s a 1-year deal.

— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) March 19, 2020

But, hey, this guy is available:

#Panthers release safety Eric Reidhttps://t.co/1TShiCQqT3

— Carolina Panthers (@Panthers) March 18, 2020

A right guard who has familiarity with Bears OC Bill Lazor won’t be coming to Chicago:

Bengals informed @RosenhausSports that they are releasing starting offensive guard John Miller, who they signed as a free agent last year.

— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) March 18, 2020

That’s a real shame. You hate to see it:

Vikings doing more subtracting than adding, so far.@davecampbellap >> https://t.co/Lb3FTKuon5

— AP NFL (@AP_NFL) March 19, 2020

Puzzles at Amazon anybody? #ad

Wonder if this will be the first of many:

The Giants have informed their season-ticket holders they will defer payments on 2020 season tickets due to the coronavirus pandemic.

— Ralph Vacchiano (@RVacchianoSNY) March 19, 2020