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Are Bears Drafting for Contracts?

If the Bears move up and get one of the young quarterbacks in this draft, wouldn't it mean also giving contract extensions to Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace?

Logic can always work two ways.

In this possible search by the Bears for a quarterback in Round 1, it can be twisted in a way critics of coach Matt Nagy and general manager Ryan Pace would not want to consider.

The obvious approach for the Bears in Round 1 is trading up would mean developing a young passer.

As a result, it's possible neither GM Ryan Pace nor coach Matt Nagy have that kind of time if they have a losing season while the quarterback sits and develops, or even worse, is pressed into action and struggles like any the great majority of rookie quarterbacks do when playing.

The examples are everywhere in this NFL. Josh Allen had a tragic 67.9 passer rating as a rookie and the Bills went 5-6, then by his third year he was being talked about like an MVP candidate. Carson Wentz had a 79.3 rating and 7-9 record starting and then his second year was 11-2 with a 101.9 rating. Jared Goff posted a hilarious 63.6 rating and 0-7 record and a year later was at 100.5 for an 11-4 team.

Move up for a QB in Round 1? FanNation and Sports Illustrated analyst Jim Mora Jr. put it best

"My concern for Chicago is can the regime that's there withstand another year where they don't show great promise?" Mora said. "And so is drafting for the future going to be a future that somebody else coaches?"

It's enough to sour any GM and coach on trading up, but Tribune Bears beat columnist Brad Biggs flipped the script in a video for the Tribune website.

Biggs suggested in his mock draft that the Bears be aggressive, trade up to No. 4 with Atlanta and then draft Trey Lance.

Lance obviously needs tons of development as an FCS quarterback with only about a year of experience but immense physical potential. Whether it's Lance or Justin Fields, who has had some bad habits to correct, the same could be true.

The thinking by Biggs is Nagy and Pace can go to board chairman George McCaskey and CEO Ted Phillips when making the trade and ask for more time because they need the time to develop a quarterback they've identified as having a very high ceiling and potentially a generational talent.

It was thought Pace's contract expires after this season and Nagy's after 2022. No one is certain of Pace's at this moment because the team removed reference to his contract expiration from its web pages. Phillips became irritated when he was pressed on this topic in the post-2020 news conference.

Either way, the two would want one more year at the very least for Nagy, quarterbacks coach/passing game coordinator John DeFilippo and offensive coordinator Bill Lazor to work their magic with the quarterback chosen.

So, new QB in Round 1, new contracts for everyone!

And so it goes on and on and on.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven