Bears Play Waiting Game and Trading Game at QB

This one might take a while.

The Bears have made moves in free agency yet the biggest one everyone is waiting on is quarterback and the fact they're now looking at trades means the time element has been eliminated.

This has nothing to do with free agency and the signing of players. It has to do with reaching an agreement and the Bears can afford to wait out a better deal, especially now with actual field work in the NFL suspended in April due to the Coronavirus.

So while everyone wants a quick resolution to this, the Bears will keep looking at these options:

Trading with the Jacksonville Jaguars for Nick Foles; trading with the Cincinnati Bengals for Andy Dalton; and either trading with Carolina for Cam Newton or simply waiting for him to be released.

The interest in Foles and Dalton are well documented. The Newton link is new.

The Bears obviously benefit in each case if the quarterback can be released because they don't have to trade away a draft pick or even two for these players, and more importantly they can come up with their own contract and the right structure to fit their tight salary cap situation.

In Newton's case, it's going to be difficult to make a trade because the $18.6 million salary might be a little more than they want to pay, although it can be adjusted because it's all salary. It's also more difficult because they'd want more in exchange for a former MVP.

The greatest reason there would be a delay in a Newton deal would be his health, with the lisfranc ligament surgery he had and also a team might want to actually see him throw some because he changed his throwing motion prior to his last season and didn't really get it tested properly.

According to a report by a CBS reporter in North Carolina, Jonathan Jones, the Bears did have contact with the Panthers about a trade. Yet, with the quarterback landing place supply shrinking and the Panthers wanting to have Newton off their cap after agreeing to contract terms with Teddy Bridgewater, they may want to simply cut him and the Bears can negotiate their own deal.

The Panthers have been in recent contact with the Bears regarding Cam Newton, per source. The expectation is Newton will be released in the coming days, but CHI may not want to compete in the market for him
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) March 18, 2020

There might be the same type of delay with both Foles or Dalton because the Bears would no doubt love to see those players cut so they can negotiate their own contract. This is unlikely to happen with Dalton because the Bengals aren't pressed up against the cap and can make the free agent moves they'd like at this moment. It's not the case with Jacksonville.

The Bengals are likely to draft Joe Burrow so they wouldn't want Dalton's deal on the books, but it's not as pressing of a matter.

With New England looking for a quarterback now, as well, and having past reported interest in Dalton, they could take Dalton away from the Bears.

The Bears couldn't offer the type of draft pick compensation to the Bengals the Patriots can and likely would lose a bidding war for Dalton. New England has 12 draft picks this year, four more than the Bears. And they have three in Round 3. The Bears have no Round 3 picks they can trade. With the Bears having only three picks in the first 139, they obviously would like to avoid trading anything in the first four rounds.

This whole situation could run on, and with no organized team activities beginning April 20 because of the coronavirus situation, the great quarterback siege could go on. This definitely wouldn't help the Bears, but if they did bring in Foles at least they would know he has knowledge of the offense.

Then again, maybe the Bears hit the magic number and a trade is consummated today.

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