The Chicago Bears are going into the 2023 season with Justin Fields as their starting quarterback. There is a lot riding on Fields this season as the team has invested in a lot around him. Most notably the Bears traded away the number one overall pick in the 2023 draft for D.J. Moore from the Carolina Panthers (amongst other things). Now the Bears are being named in another trade, this time with the Indianapolis Colts for a quarterback.
Chicago Bears Land QB Sam Ehlinger From The Indianapolis Colts In Bold Trade Proposal
Alex Ballentine of Bleacher Report highlighted what type of impact this trade would have:
The Indianapolis Colts had to turn to Sam Ehlinger to start three games last season. The third-year player didn’t light the world on fire, but he showed enough to prove he can be a backup quarterback.
That’s not going to happen in Indianapolis. The Colts are going with Anthony Richardson as the starter, and Gardner Minshew was brought in as one of the league’s top backup quarterbacks.
That leaves the Colts with the option of releasing Ehlinger, trying to pass him through waivers before making him their designated emergency quarterback or trading him.
Trading him is the only way they could guarantee themselves a little bit of compensation. Dialing up Chicago Bears head coach Matt Eberflus, who was with the Colts when they drafted Ehlinger, would make sense.
Ehlinger is a tough quarterback who is willing to take hits to move the ball. He doesn’t have a great arm but is an adequate runner and had 33 rushing touchdowns in his collegiate career.
That makes him a strong candidate to back up Justin Fields. The Bears’ backup quarterback battle is coming down to undrafted free agent Tyson Bagent and 28-year-old P.J. Walker.
Ehlinger has higher upside than Walker and is more experienced than Bagent.
How Would This Impact The Bears?
For Saturday’s preseason finale against the Bills, Justin Fields will start at quarterback, but the Bears haven’t revealed any other plans.
Despite being asked about the rest of the playing time distribution, head coach Matt Eberflus declined to disclose it. In addition to Fields, the team has Tyson Bagent, Nathan Peterman, and P.J. Walker in the depth chart.
“I’m not going to answer that,” Eberflus said, via Josh Schrock of NBCSportsChicago.com. “That’s still a competition though, as we’ve said all along, and we’re open to that. That’s exciting. And that was created. It wasn’t like we created it — when I say we, the coaching staff. That was created by pure competition. Like I said, if you keep an open mind and you let things play out, then good things will happen. A lot of times I’ve seen that coaches predetermine things a lot of times and we just based it on performances and we’re going to continue to do that and let the competition play itself out.”
Their uncertainty at the backup quarterback position may lead to a trade. In the event Fields is injured, this trade would certainly benefit the team.
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