Should the Bears trade their first-round and fourth-round picks for Patriots backup quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo?
No. No deal. No discussion. No nothing. Period. Paragraph. Ballgame.
That has been the talk this season as John Fox’s Bears devolved into a laughingstock starting with the quarterback position.
That also has been the talk this offseason as Garoppolo appears more in play than ever after Tom Brady stayed healthy and wasn’t caught cheating again. Brady is blasting into middle-age like a young MVP, and presuming he comes out of the Super Bowl healthy, the kid from Rolling Meadows and Eastern Illinois remains the best rumor available.
So, the trade rumor mill set Garoppolo’s price at a first- and fourth-rounder.
Pass. The Bears have to pass on that. Their smartest pass play of the season.
Yes, the Bears expect to draft a quarterback this year. And yes, Garoppolo would be more NFL-ready than any quarterback coming out of this draft.
But not enough to justify the price.
Garoppolo has two NFL starts, four fewer than Matt Barkley, but nobody wants to see Barkley anymore, or Brian Hoyer or Jay Cutler. The Bears need somebody new, even if it’s a new kind of awful, and there’s a chance Garoppolo could be that guy because he would be coming from the Patriots, and Bill Belichick doesn’t give up talent with a future.
A look at the Bears’ quarterbacks through the years, from 1934 to present-day.
Not pictured: Steve Bradley (1 game; 1987), Greg Landry (1 game; 1984), John Huarte (2 games; 1972), Kent Nix (9 games; 1970-71), Tommy O’Connell (12 games; 1953), Tom Farris (20 games; 1946-47), Johnny Long (12 games; 1944-45), Bill Glenn (2 games; 1944), Charlie O’Rourke (11 games; 1942), Young Bussey (10 games; 1941), Solly Sherman (14 games; 1939-40) and Bernie Masterson (72 games; 1934-40). | source: pro-football-reference.com
I wrote before how fearful I am of Bears titular GM Ryan Pace getting pantsed by Belichick, who made Bears castoffs Martellus Bennett and Shea McClellin important contributors on a Super Bowl team. The Bears, remember, couldn’t figure out how to make a player out of McClellin, and Fox couldn’t coach a player like Bennett because he had a personality. I assume Fox’s next job will be coaching the team from Westworld.
Anyway, Pace dealing with Belichick should require a chaperone, or at least a rule. This rule: The Bears can trade only their first-round pick to acquire Garoppolo.
Only.
Not the first-rounder and fourth-round pick. Not the first-round and any-other-round pick. Only the first-round pick, and here’s why:
The Bears have too many holes. So many holes. Even their holes have holes. Hello, secondary.
The Bears stink out loud all over, from quarterback to safety. They can’t afford to give up multiple picks for one player or one position. They’re already redrafting several positions. They can’t hamstring themselves further.
There’s your answer. That’s the only way it should come down. One draft pick, which the Bears would’ve spent on a quarterback anyway, and if the Patriots get a better offer, then they take it and the Bears can draft a defensive game-changer.
During his annual “State of the Delusional State’’ address, Roger Goodell said the NFL is “very committed’’ to Thursday Night Football and claimed that fewer turnovers and penalties have created “quality football on Thursday nights.’’ It took Twitter a second for someone to follow that quote with “#alternativefacts.’’
If indeed there are fewer penalties called, wouldn’t everybody believe the NFL told officials to call fewer penalties so the commissioner could use fewer penalties as a barometer for allegedly “high quality’’ football?
Goodell was talking about finding ways to shorten games in advance of the longest game of the year. Which is what you’d expect from someone who works for the McCaskeys.
I think we’ve had it all wrong and CTE actually stands for commissioner traumatic encephalopathy?
New Sox prospect Michael Kopech, the one with the 100 mph arm, cut off most of his long, flowing blond locks, and I’m thinking, I hope Brooks Boyer wasn’t planning a Kopech Hair Hat giveaway like the Mets scheduled for Noah Syndergaard.
Kopech’s girlfriend is Brielle Bierman, whose mother is one of the “Real Housewives of Atlanta.’’ Bierman joined her boyfriend at SoxFest last weekend and tweeted a suggestion for a “Real Housewives of Chicago’’ series. Yes. Well. Ahem. First, your boyfriend needs to actually make the Chicago roster. Meantime, good luck with the “Real Housewives of Birmingham.’’
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