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A brand new report regarding the Las Vegas Raiders’ plans at quarterback could absolutely impact the Chicago Bears’ plans going forward.
The Chicago Bears are going to add a quarterback this offseason. That has already been established. Whether or not you, as a fan, believe in Mitchell Trubisky, it is clear the team wants to push him.
Another franchise appears to be looking at adding a veteran to their quarterback room as well, and it could highly impact what the Bears will do in their near future.
On Friday, Mike Garafolo said on NFL Network’s show NFL Now that the Las Vegas Raiders’ plans include adding a veteran quarterback this offseason. Garafolo did not completely rule out the possibility of said quarterback being Tom Brady, but he did include that it is unlikely.
Garafolo added that Marcus Mariota is a name to watch in Las Vegas because of the fact that general manager Mike Mayock had him ranked as his number one quarterback coming out of the 2015 draft.
Whichever veteran quarterback the Raiders choose to add, it’s looking more and more likely that head coach Jon Gruden isn’t too fond of current starter Derek Carr. The rumor mill has been churning with plenty of Carr-to-Chicago rumblings, and with Gruden still having eight years left with the Raiders, I could see him looking to solidify the team with “his” guy.
The Raiders own picks no. 12 and no. 19 in the first round of this year’s draft. Those two picks very well could be packaged to move up and select Gruden’s future quarterback. Someone like Justin Herbert would make sense, or even Jordan Love. Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa should be gone within the top five picks, and I’m not so sure Las Vegas could move up that high anyways.
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So, what does that mean for the Bears? It’s pretty simple. The door could be swinging wide open for a team to impress Mayock and Gruden with an offer for Carr.
At the same time, if fellow general managers are led to believe the Raiders want to move on from Carr, maybe the asking price goes down a hair. Should Carr become knowingly available to other executives, Ryan Pace has to get involved in the conversation.
Adding Carr would immediately launch the Bears into the Super Bowl conversation. Whether you choose to point the finger at other issues on the roster or not, it doesn’t matter. The fact is, Carr is a significant upgrade over Trubisky — period. Go get him, Pace.