The Chicago Bears have committed to Mitchell Trubisky as leaving week 1 for 2020 while approving quarterback competition, but all fans worried that general manager Ryan Pace is not serious about the latter can be assured that he has already watched several veterans before free will. Paul Dehner Jr. of Athletic recently reported that the Bears “have been in touch with the Bengals” regarding a potential exchange for Cincinnati quarterback Andy Dalton. And now Dehner’s colleagues Kevin Fishbain and Adam Jahns of The Athletic Chicago have added to this notion, passing on the word of the Scouting Combine that Dalton and the impending free agent Case Keenum are the two “realistic candidates to join Trubisky “in the Bears’ QB Room this off-season.
Dalton, in particular, has long been a speculated target of Chicago. Projected by some as this year’s version of Ryan Tannehill (a pending runner needing a change of scenery), the three-time Pro Bowler is anything but a lock to replace at Cincy with a first-round pick (see: Burrow, Joe), and the 32-year-old played under the new Bears offensive coordinator, Bill Lazor, from 2016 to 2018.
Because the Bengals could demand compensation as high as a second-round pick for Dalton, by Fishbain and Jahns, the 32-year-old Keenum might be a more realistic option. Would also have been on the Cleveland Browns’ radar, Keenum opened 2019 as the Washington Redskins starter before giving way to Dwayne Haskins. The companion did not stay with a team for more than two years at a time, but he appeared as a starter for half a decade, most notably with the Minnesota Vikings in 2017.
Regarding the bigger-name QB options, Fishbain and Jahns added that Teddy Bridgewater’s backup of the New Orleans Saints “appears out of the picture” as he seeks an annual salary between 15 and $ 20 million, while former Tennessee Titans star Marcus Mariota seems “less likely” to land in Chicago than Dalton or Keenum.