This week, the Sunday Splash! circuit included an unexpected curve ball.
Jason La Canfora of CBS reported that the Bears have spoken to former NFL defensive lineman and current agent Trace Armstrong about taking over the team’s football operations.
La Canfora added that, if Armstrong takes the job, Ohio State coach Ryan Day would become a candidate to coach the team, given that he’s an Armstrong client and that Armstrong has been singing Day’s praises to potential NFL suitors.
There’s one catch. It’s fairly significant. Armstrong denies that he has spoken to the team.
“I have the utmost respect for the Chicago Bears organization, the McCaskey family and [team president] Ted Phillips,” Armstrong said on Twitter. “However, any assertion that I have engaged in conversations with them about joining the club in any capacity is simply not true.”
The Bears had no comment when asked about the report by PFT.
Armstrong, 56, was a first-round pick of the Bears in 1989. He spent six years in Chicago and 15 in the NFL, finishing with 106 career sacks and a Pro Bowl berth in 2000.
If the Bears are exploring the possibility of hiring a head of football operations, it would call into question the futures of coach Matt Nagy, G.M. Ryan Pace, and Phillips, who has essentially been running football operations for more than 20 years without the accountability that usually accompanies such responsibilities.
