NEWSLETTER
The injury bug bit one of the league’s best and most important players, Titans RB Derrick Henry, on Sunday, which could force him out for quite a while.
From @GMFB: The #Titans fear that star RB Derrick Henry suffered a broken bone in his foot that would knock him out indefinitely, but he'll have an MRI today to determine the full extent of the damage. pic.twitter.com/wes0sICj1J
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) November 1, 2021
Derrick Henry isn’t just the Titans’ star running back and league’s top rusher, he’s also a legitimate MVP candidate for how he carries Tennessee’s offense and re-shapes games with his excellence out of the backfield. So the foot injury suffered on Sunday will be a significant setback for him and his team. And while there’s hope that Henry could be back in time for a potential playoff run, there is a real chance this is a season-ending injury for the stud ball-carrier.
In any case, it’s an injury that will keep Henry out for a bit. And with that in mind, ESPN NFL insider Adam Schefter is already cooking up possible trade targets:
https://twitter.com/adamschefter/status/1455166382325313537?s=21
Admittedly, that is a mighty fine collection of names. And if Tennessee chooses to seek help elsewhere, there isn’t a shortage of candidates to pluck from the trade market. However, there is one name missing that I can’t help but to mention.
Would the Bears consider trading David Montgomery?
Maybe the Bears would be slightly more comfortable trading Montgomery, because they like Khalil Herbert as an in-house heir apparent averaging 4.4 yards per carry the last four weeks. Or perhaps the team likes its strength in numbers/depth, though that would, of course, take an enormous hit by trading Montgomery in the first place. And that’s a risky proposition considering Herbert missed time due to injury yesterday, as did Damien Williams. And let’s not forget Williams isn’t too far out from recovering from a trip to the COVID reserve list. But if the Bears aren’t looking like a playoff team (and they aren’t after yesterday’s showing), then maybe recouping draft capital should be a priority.
To be clear, I’m not pushing to move Montgomery for the sake of doing something before Tuesday’s trade deadline. And I wouldn’t take just anything in a trade. So remove the idea of a conditional Day 3 pick from your brain, because that’s the kind of offer that gets you laughed at while on the line. And it would surely get you left on read when you text after I hang up because I can’t control my laughter. But the possibility of gaining valuable draft capital to use in building around Justin Fields is enticing to me. And it should be for the Bears, too. Again, I’m not trying to push the Bears’ best offensive player out the door — especially since he still has one year left on his rookie deal. But I *AM* trying to think progressively in terms of building the next competitive Bears team.
Then again, NFL teams don’t operate at the deadline like their cross-sport counterparts and engage in firesales. Although, it takes just one team to do it once to start a trend.
When Bears GM Ryan Pace said he was keeping an aggressive mindset ahead of the 2021 NFL Trade Deadline *BEFORE* Sunday’s loss to the 49ers, it allowed me to think about supplemental moves that could’ve been made to aid in Justin Fields’ development for the rest of this season. Nothing splashy, but something potentially beneficial for the remaining games. But losing on Sunday put some things into perspective. This isn’t to say Pace can’t still be aggressive. However, his angle might be different.
The deadline to cut a deal is tomorrow. And while it is unlike its MLB or NBA counterparts, I imagine we’ll see some rumors popping up between now and then. In theory, the Bears should have feelers out there for any number of players. And in a more sensible universe, they would use any and all possibilities to build for a better future. But they won’t.
