The No. 1 roster goal this offseason for the Bears, as it has been for so many offseasons for them, is resolving a quarterback situation with a solution other than Jay Cutler. General manager Ryan Pace has stated that the team has had as many as a dozen scenarios for working this out.
But the Bears have yet to come to any agreement with Brian Hoyer, a veteran endorsed by coach John Fox and offensive coordinator Dowell Loggains, and could face a crisis situation as this week unfolds with the start of a negotiating period on Tuesday and signings able to start on Thursday.
If the Washington Redskins are not willing to part with franchise-tagged Kirk Cousins…
and if the New England Patriots hold to a course of not trading Jimmy Garoppolo…
and if the Jets lure Mike Glennon to New York…
and if Hoyer, who has drawn covert interest from a handful of teams…
then… what?
The Bears have the finances to win a bidding war for Glennon, whose price is becoming head-scratching for a quarterback with 18 total starts and who last started a game in 2014 when he went 1-4 with Tampa Bay, the same record as Hoyer's with the Bears last season. And indications are that Glennon's cost will be a multiple of Hoyer's. Per Yahoo NFL reporter Charles Robinson:
https://twitter.com/CharlesRobinson/status/838588037915426817
Pace does not want to get into a situation where he has no choice but to overpay just to have someone to replace Cutler.
"There is a delicate balance between being aggressive and being decisive, but being responsible," Pace said last week at the NFL Scouting Combine. "I think you can always recover from the player you didn't sign; you can't recover from the player that you signed at the wrong price. I think we've got to be conscious of that."
The Bears have indicated they want Hoyer back after an injury shortened stint of five starts in which he threw 200 passes without an interception, giving him 25 TD passes vs. 7 interceptions over the past two seasons. But the absence of a deal could be raises the obvious question of how much? Hoyer played last season for $2 million and is expected to sign with someone on Thursday. Without a deal at this point, Hoyer will be testing the market.
Washington may demand something like the No. 3 pick of the draft for Cousins, who has not yet signed his franchise-tag deal at $24 million. The Patriots have given conflicting signals, at least publicly, on Garoppolo's availability or price.
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