Getty Head coach Matt Nagy of the Chicago Bears.
Rest easy, Chicago Bears fans. Aaron Rodgers may be growing restless in Green Bay, but he isn’t heading to the Windy City any time soon. In an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show Monday, Bears head coach Matt Nagy discussed a number of things, from the future of new franchise quarterback Justin Fields to a few rumors swirling around the team this offseason — including Chicago’s rumored interest in trading for Russell Wilson.
It was clear from the get-go this offseason that Chicago was hunting for a new signal-caller, and prior to the draft, it had veterans Andy Dalton and Nick Foles on the roster. The addition of Fields changed everything, but it wouldn’t have happened had the Bears mortgaged the future in a trade for Wilson. So just how close were they to a deal with the Seahawks?
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Nagy on Russell Wilson Trade Rumors: ‘We Definitely Explored It’
How close did the Bears come to trading for Russell Wilson? According to Nagy, the team looked into it, but Pete Carroll and company weren’t willing to part ways with their franchise quarterback.\:
I think the biggest thing for when we go into that part of our structure offensively is knowing the direction we were gonna go to with the quarterback — and Russell being one of those that, obviously, not from our end, but from that side, popped up. It was something that we looked into. All these guys, you have to say to yourself: ‘OK, what’s real and what’s not real?’ And there’s just so many things that go into a decision like that, and they’re big decisions, but ultimately, in the end, you have a team in Seattle who is obviously very happy with him and wasn’t going to do anything with him, and so, for us, we definitely explored it, but in the end, obviously, nothing came to fruition.
Then, Eisen asked Nagy about the reigning NFL MVP: Upon hearing the rumors and reports Aaron Rodgers is unhappy in Green Bay, did the Bears make a phone call to their rivals to the North?
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Nagy on Bears Calling About Rodgers: No Way
Eisen asked Nagy if it would it be a waste of time to ask if the team has kicked the tires on Aaron Rodgers, and the Bears coach’s response was quite telling: “Yeah, that would be a waste of your time,” Nagy said with a laugh. “We certainly know what kind of player he is after the last three years here, but yeah, that’s — definitely stay away from that one.”
The Bears could certainly do far worse than Rodgers, of course, but there is zero chance the Packers would trade him to a divisional rival, and very little chance they’ll trade him at all. Still, Nagy set the record straight about both veteran quarterbacks, and it was clear he and the Bears will be focusing on Fields — and the hope he could bring as the team’s next franchise quarterback.
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