NFL insider mailbags are a source of information and entertainment these days, and few go about answering their questions as thoroughly as Jay Glazer, whenever he dives into piles of questions at The Athletic.
In his latest installment, Glazer answered a question about the Chicago Bears’ commitment to incumbent starting quarterback Mitch Trubisky and the front office’s willingness to admit a mistake. Glazer’s response takes us back to a conversation he had with Bears GM Ryan Pace when he traded up to draft Trubisky.
Here’s a snippet:
“When they were drafting him, I remember Ryan Pace and I talking about “need.” I said to him, “Well, your pick needs to be the need to not get fired.” We laughed about it. After he picked Trubisky, he brought that back up again. That’s the thing with these quarterbacks, it’s such a 50/50 proposition. You gamble your reputation, your stake, on a guy hoping he’s going to be THE GUY that leads you into the next decade. If he’s not, it sets your franchise back.”
A couple of things here …
Pace comes off sounding like he knew he was taking a major risk with whomever he selected in that draft. Which, in hindsight, makes trading up to take Trubisky look more puzzling to me now than it had at any time before. At my core, I’m often hesitant to criticize a general manager who has enough conviction to trade up for a player they like. After all, fortune favors the bold, and it doesn’t get much bolder than what Pace did in order to secure the second pick in the 2017 NFL Draft. But if you know the inherent risks of making that move to take a player at a position that doesn’t have a high hit-rate, why complicate matters by adding to the risk by dealing draft capital? It just doesn’t line up,
As for a willingness to admit a mistake with the pick, I feel as if Pace has already done that this offseason. No, Pace didn’t explicitly say it with words. But in a world where actions speak more loudly, Pace’s trade for Nick Foles says plenty.
None of this is to say the Bears aren’t hoping Trubisky can turn it around, break out, and grow into the franchise quarterback he was drafted to be back in 2017. But because Chicago has acquired a Plan B, a certain amount of doubt has apparently crept into the front office regarding Trubisky’s ability to become “THE GUY,” as Glazer put it.
And if “THE GUY” falters, and the dude lined up to replace “THE GUY” can’t get it done, then it won’t be long until the Bears star their search for another “GUY” to be that long-term option. If it gets to that point, it’s tough to imagine Pace being the “guy” picking him.