Report: Chicago Bears will Heavily Pursue Jimmy Garoppolo this Offseason
A report has surfaced that the Chicago Bears top offseason priority will be to land New England Patriots quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.
It seems to be a foregone conclusion that the Chicago Bears will move on from Jay Cutler this offseason. Cutler struggled when he was on the field, and struggled even more to stay on said field as he had a multitude of injuries that caused him to be shutdown for the year after the New York Giants game.
More from Bear Goggles On
- Franchise tag and transition tag windows open for Chicago Bears and NFL
- How the Chicago Bears can control the running back market in 2023
- The Chicago Bears can own the city of Chicago moving forward
- Chicago Bears NFL Combine Preview: Quarterback
- 7 best free agent tackle options for Chicago Bears
While it’s clear the Bears will be moving on from Cutler, it hasn’t been clear which direction Chicago would take to replace him. Many thought the Bears would focus on a quarterback with the third overall pick while others thought they may draft one later and bridge with someone like Brian Hoyer.
Another thought was to bring in a capable veteran quarterback like Tyrod Taylor via trade. But the Bears have other ideas.
According to Jason La Canfora of CBS, the Chicago Bears have made acquiring Jimmy Garoppolo their top offseason priority. They will make a strong push for the New England Patriots’ backup quarterback.
This will concern several Bears fans who will think that any success that Garoppolo has had thus far is due to the Patriots’ system and not because of any of his own talent. They will cite Matt Cassel and Bryan Hoyer as examples of former Patriots QBs that failed with other teams and scream from the mountaintops that Ryan Pace has blown it.
The fact of the matter is that those quarterbacks aren’t comparable to Garoppolo. Cassel was seventh round pick and Brian Hoyer was undrafted. These are players that didn’t have the skills of someone like Garoppolo and were only inflated because of the Patriots’ system.
Garoppolo was a second round pick. He put up obscene numbers his final year in college (Cassel was a backup at USC who didn’t play) and was a standout in pre-draft workouts. He was the fifth quarterback taken in the draft (the fourth was Derek Carr), and he has all the skills to succeed at the NFL level.
La Canfora also stated that the Cleveland Browns appear to be interested in Garoppolo and can dangle the 12th overall pick in the draft. However, the Bears might be willing to offer more mid-round picks which is something that Bill Belichick always values greatly. He may be more interested in two second round picks that the 12th overall pick.
Whether this report comes to fruition it still shows that this offseason could very well be an aggressive one for the Chicago Bears and one where Ryan Pace is going to stake his reputation as a talent evaluator on the line. If he’s right, the Bears will take several steps towards becoming a competitive football team next season. If he’s wrong, Pace will most likely be out of a job in two seasons.
This offseason is certainly shaping up to be a critical one for this Bears regime.
Bill Zimmerman is an editor and featured writer for FanSided‘s BearGogglesOn. Like his Facebook page or follow him on Twitter for more news and interaction.