Bears Could Trade Backup QB for Draft Pick, Add Tannehill Behind Williams

Getty General Manger Ryan Poles of the Chicago Bears.

The Chicago Bears are one of the youngest teams in the NFL at quarterback, which is redundant for them because rookie Caleb Williams is already the starter. But to the right suitor, his talent and youth at the position could prove valued assets.

Tyson Bagent joined the Bears ahead of the 2023 campaign as an undrafted free agent. He beat out PJ Walker during the preseason for the backup job behind Justin Fields, despite the fact that Chicago had just inked Walker to a two-year contract worth over $4 million to fill the role.

Bagent, 24, played reasonably well in Fields’ stead across four and a half games of work, leading the Bears to a 2-2 record as the starter. Chicago landed the top pick in this year’s draft and selected Williams, which ultimately resulted in the franchise trading Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Fields is competing hard with Russell Wilson for a starting job in the AFC North and could win it. However, Steve Palazzolo of The 33rd Team recently posited an interesting question involving Bagent in the context of the Steelers’ quarterback battle, the basis of which should be of some interest to the Bears.

“Would Bagent start for the Steelers?” Palazzolo posted to X on Friday, August 23.

“Bagent was beating out Fields if [the Bears] never traded him,” Mike Renner of CBS Sports responded to Palazzolo’s post.

Regardless of whether Bagent would start for Pittsburgh or would have bested Fields out for the starting job in Chicago at some point had Williams never landed there, the fact that either is/was even a possibility points to Bagent’s inherent trade value, upon which the Bears could capitalize if they so choose.

Tyson Bagent Could Compete for Starting Jobs With Teams Like the Raiders

GettyQuarterback Tyson Bagent of the Chicago Bears.

Ted Nguyen of The Athletic recently floated the notion of the Bears trading Bagent to the Las Vegas Raiders for a Day 2 selection.

“Raiders should offer a [fourth-round pick] for Tyson Bagent because why not,” Nguyen posted to X on August 19.

Las Vegas recently named Gardner Minshew the starter over second-year player Aidan O’Connell, and Bagent could not only compete with O’Connell for the No. 2 job off the bat, he showed last season that he could potentially play his way into a starting role.

Bagent managed games for the Bears well during his rookie campaign, completing 65.7% of his passes for 859 yards, 3 TDs and 6 INTs. He also rushed the football 23 times for 109 yards and 2 scores.

While the turnover issue is a red flag, it comes with two caveats. The first is that injury thrust Bagent into a starting role in the NFL when he’d never even started a game at the Division I level. Bagent played his college ball at Division II Shepherd in West Virginia where he set the all-time NCAA record for TD passes across all divisions with 159.

The second is that the Bears didn’t have much in the way of help around him last year outside of wide receiver DJ Moore and tight end Cole Kmet, and Chicago’s offensive line was shaky when it wasn’t depleted by injury.

Bears Would Be Better Off With Proven Veteran Backing Up Caleb Williams in Rookie Year

GettyQuarterback Tyson Bagent of the Chicago Bears.

A handful of NFL teams are in a similar position to the Raiders, which should afford the Bears a market beyond Las Vegas if they choose to shop Bagent. And the reason they might is due to the inherent risk of having a second-year player serving as the backup to a rookie QB.

Chicago brought in four-year NFL veteran Brett Rypien to compete with Bagent this offseason for that precise reason. Arguing both for Bagent’s trade value and for the Bears to consider trading him is talking out of both sides of one’s mouth, but context can make the dual arguments simultaneously valid.

Bagent could theoretically compete with a veteran on a middling team for a starting and/or backup position, while the Bears would want an experienced vet with playoff experience — like, say, Ryan Tannehill — behind Williams should the rookie suffer injury during a potential run to the playoffs.

Tannehill is a free agent with a market value of nearly $8 million for the upcoming season, and Chicago has $21.5 million in cap space and some incentive to use a portion of it on QB insurance. Beyond that, a fourth-round pick (or something in that range) is a meaningful draft asset to get in return for a player who is unlikely to ever be a major part of a franchise’s future.

The Bears traded a fourth-round pick for wide receiver Keenan Allen this offseason, as well as a 2025 fourth-rounder for the right to select rookie edge rusher Austin Booker in this year’s fifth round. If Bagent can bring that kind of asset back in trade, the Bears would be irresponsible not to at least consider it.