Ryan Pace let quarterback market play him again

The most frustrating thing about Andy Dalton signing with the Chicago Bears has almost nothing to do with Andy Dalton. It is much rather about the way in which the team went about it. It is a weird deja vu nightmare scenario from a year ago.

Just last year, the Chicago Bears struck early on Nick Foles with a trade, and $17 million guaranteed. The issue was that the Bears could have let the quarterback market play out and potentially even got Foles, just at a lower cost.

The reality is that after the Bears traded for Foles Andy Dalton, Jameis Winston, and Cam Newton were all released. Foles played on a $6 million cap hit, while Winston signed for $1.1M, Newton signed for $1,75M, and Dalton for $3. None of them cost a draft pick.

You can say Foles knew the offense, you can say the Bears had to get a starter introduced to the playbook, the reality is that Pace panicked because he was desperate and overpaid for Nick Foles when he could have been patient and had Dalton, Winston, Newton or even possibly Foles at a cheaper price in 2020.

Not only that, it would not have come with the 2021 cap hit that Foles now brings. You would think that because Foles cap hit is literally right in front of him, and the Bears had to cut Kyle Fuller in an effort to save cap space, that Pace would have noticed what a mistake it was to jump the gun.

No, he did not learn anything from last year.

Ryan Pace did not just sign Andy Dalton, he signed him for $10M. A year after he made $3M. To be fair, the cap hits are spaced out, and it will be $5.5 this season. Still, the reality is that Pace once again jumped the gun and overpaid.

Jacoby Brissett has a $5 million cap hit and not the dead cap in 2022 that Dalton could carry. Sure, you can say that Mitch Trubisky was never coming back, but signing for $2.5 million when Dalton got $10 is something. Dalton may be better, but not that much, and again, Trubisky does not linger into 2022, either.

Beyond that, reports are that Gardner Minshew and Marcus Mariota are available for trade, and both may be released, We just saw last season how that worked out. Minshew is on a rookie deal and would be cheaper than Dalton, and Mariota is currently making $10 million against the cap. He could be released and signed for the same or less than Dalton.

The sharp teams sit back and let the market come to them. They find the best players who did not get paid with the big wave of money and then pick up the value players. For two straight years the Chicago Bears did the exact opposite. Ryan Pace did not even get played, he played himself.