Hidden QB Gem Requires Closer Look from Bears
In the last 15 year, only seven teams have drafted fewer quarterbacks than the Chicago Bears.
The Saints, Falcons and Colts drafted three each, the Seahawks, Cowboys, Texans and Chargers four each.
Considering who most of those teams had as starting quarterback during this time, it's understandable why they took so few.
Considering the Bears drafted five, and who they had at starting quarterback during those 15 seasons, there's no reason why they weren't drafting a quarterback every single season.
For a team so forever consumed with this crusade of finding a franchise quarterback, drafting Dan LeFevour (2010), Nate Enderle (2011), David Fales (2014) and Mitchell Trubisky (2017) since picking Kyle Orton in 2005 just doesn't make much sense, does it?
Even when you factor in the savior, one Jay Christopher Cutler, so few QB picks seems like neglect. And the fact three of those five drafted passers combined to throw five passes in a Chicago uniform only makes you wonder if upon entering Halas Hall general managers Jerry Angelo, Phil Emery and Ryan Pace were brainwashed against selecting passers.
Since Pace became general manager in 2015, Trubisky is the only quarterback they have drafted.
It explains why they are in the dilemma they are in now, scrounging around in the NFL dumpster for someone else's castoff again instead of having viable options in place to replace a failed or unwanted starter.
The answer everyone is looking for right now is a veteran passer so that the great Bears defense won't go wasted. The problem with this is any veteran a team is willing to part with or has parted with no longer is or never was good enough to win a championship with this current Bears defense, unless it's Tom Brady.
This defense isn't the same one it was in 2018. It's not as good. And at age 42 it's would be difficult to argue even Brady still has something left to hoist a team with missing pieces to a championship.
What the Bears need to consider now is the value of drafting a project passer and also acquiring another young backup quarterback who can be a viable replacement if Trubisky flops again.
It would be less expensive and rates at least as good a chance of elevating the position as trading away draft picks for or signing some. They need to part ways with the idea of immediacy if they're sticking with Trubisky for this year, and acquire a low-cost backup quarterback with promise who can still be developed, in addition to drafting one.
A better way of doing things for long-term success is to set up their own quarterback training system. It would ensure the future isn't as bleak as their past at this position.
The draft will take care of itself. Finding a low-cost, young, talented backup normally isn't as easy.
They're in luck. This year it is.
One option of this type discussed here in the past was Jeff Driskel with Detroit, who has worked with Bears offensive coordinator Bill Lazor.
Another better option might be one highly thought of around the league with even less playing experience but plenty of potential. He's also a passer who has worked in the Bears' style of offense.
Eagles backup Nate Sudfeld is an unrestricted free agent who lacks the regular-season experience of Driskel or some other backups, but had been trained in Philadelphia by Bears quarterbacks coach John DeFilippo. Last year he was to be the Eagles backup until he suffered a wrist injury in preseason and was shelved, so Josh McCown became the backup who played when Carson Wentz was injured in the playoffs.
Sudfeld has never started an NFL game, and his limited participation in the regular season is 20 for 25 passing for 156 yards with a 106 quarterback rating. Almost all his experience came in one 2017 game.
A big guy at 6-foot-6, 227 pounds Sudfeld threw 61 touchdown passes with 20 interceptions and completed 60.3% for Indiana in a four-year Big Ten career. He was drafted by Washington with a pick acquired from the New Orleans Saints in Round 6 in 2016 and later was cut by the Redskins and claimed by the Eagles. He spent early 2017 on Philadelphia's practice squad before being activated but the Eagles did this more than a month before the season-ending injury to Carson Wentz that led to Nick Foles taking them to a Super Bowl victory.
The Eagles placed him on the 53-man roster because there was a real interest being shown by at least one other NFL team in taking him off their practice squad.
Sudfeld's big claim to fame in the NFL was a record he set in his only real regular-season game. In 2017 he came into a loss to the Dallas Cowboys and went 19 for 23 for 134 yards for a passer rating of 90.9 over the final three quarters. The completion percentage of 82.6% broke an NFL record set by Sam Wyche in 1968, actually an AFL game between the Bengals and Houston Oilers.
Drafting a quarterback in Rounds 2-6 to put in place behind Sudfeld and Trubisky would then set up a quarterback school of sorts for the Bears. They could train their own, relying on the resources of these supposedly great quarterback coaches they have in place. Nagy, Lazor, DeFilippo and Dave Ragone are supposed to be the QB experts, let them train young passers to take over in this offense.
It's a less expensive option than dumping cash into a beat-up used model QB or someone else's lemon every two or three years.
And then from that point on someone needs to wake Pace up to the fact they need to keep drafting quarterbacks every so often as he has promised to do in the past.
Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven
