INDIANAPOLIS — The Bears’ first meeting with a quarterback at the NFL Combine wasn’t with Jameis Winston or Marcus Mariota.
It wasn’t even with an NFL Draft prospect.
Instead, Bears general manager Ryan Pace and head coach John Fox spent Wednesday morning meeting with 35-year-old Josh McCown, who was released by the Buccaneers last week.
Just minutes after that meeting finished, Fox stood on the podium inside Lucas Oil Stadium and confirmed the Bears’ interest in the quarterback.
“There’s obviously interest, or we probably wouldn’t have met with him,” Fox said. “He’s a guy that’s had opportunities as a starter in this league. He’s served as a backup. He’s the right kinda guy — I know from my perspective — that you want on your football team, so we’ll see where it goes.”
But a bigger question remains: Does Fox want Jay Cutler on his football team? On that subject, the head coach had very little to say.
“We’re not up against a deadline. My experience has always been that you need to gather the information and in turn you usually make better decisions. We’re in that process and we’ll keep you posted,” Fox said.
Ninety minutes later, Pace reiterated the same message. The GM confirmed the meeting with McCown and said he believes the 35-year-old quarterback can be a starter or a backup. As for Cutler? They’re still going through the process of making an informed decision.
But make no mistake, the Bears’ new regime made a big statement regarding the quarterback position Wednesday: They’re not committed to Jay Cutler and they’re open to other options.
Take note, NFL.
By keeping the door open, the Bears let the rest of the league know they’ll gladly welcome any trade offers for Cutler, even if those are unlikely to flood in. They also kept themselves in the mix to draft either Mariota or Winston at No. 7 overall, a position that will only help them with possible trade offers on draft day. Furthermore, Pace and Fox sent a message to the rest of the Bears’ roster that no one player will be put on a pedestal inside the locker room.
That goes for Brandon Marshall too.
Pace and Fox were even more non-committal on Marshall, and both expressed concern about the wide receiver’s priorities.
When asked about Marshall’s desire to remain part of Showtime’s “Inside The NFL” next season, Fox said: “I haven’t really had a chance to visit about that, but I will say that regardless of who it is I think their focus and energy needs to remain on what’s going to help us win a championship.”
Pace had a similar response, acknowledging that they have analyzed and researched Marshall’s behavior last season
“I know this, football needs to be the No. 1 priority and we’ll win a lot of games if we keep football our No. 1 priority,” the GM said.
In both cases — Cutler and Marshall — Pace and Fox repeatedly used the word “decision” Wednesday, making it clear that they are open to the possibility of either player (or both) not being a part of the Chicago Bears in 2015. You can argue whether or not the Bears would be better without them — it’s true there are few options better than Cutler available this offseason — but either way, the franchise doesn’t gain anything by announcing their intentions now.
Sure, in most cases, publicly casting doubt about your starting quarterback can be damaging, but Cutler did that on his own by the way he played last season. Pace and Fox would look silly if they didn’t speak candidly about a veteran who has nine years worth of film to show exactly what he is as a quarterback.
“There is a timeframe, I don’t want to not acknowledge that, but I think it’s intelligent and smart of us to utilize that entire time and be thorough with all these decisions, not just the quarterback, but everybody,” Pace said. “Why wouldn’t we?”
So what is the timeframe? Keep March 12 circled as a soft deadline. On that day, $10 million more becomes fully guaranteed in Cutler’s 2016 contract, while Marshall’s $7.5 million base salary for 2015 also becomes fully guaranteed that same day. The reason you should consider that a “soft” deadline is because the guaranteed money only really matters to the Bears if they have intentions of cutting either player should trade efforts fail. They could still trade Cutler and/or Marshall after March 12, because any team making a trade for either player would be taking on the guaranteed money no matter when the trade occurs.
At this point, nothing can be ruled out regarding Marshall, but it seems very unlikely the Bears would outright release Cutler given his entire 2015 contract is already guaranteed. Meanwhile, the thin market for quarterbacks in both free agency and the NFL Draft simultaneously boosts Cutler’s trade value and makes it harder for the Bears to let him go, given the lack of other options available.
But until their hand is forced, it’s only smart for Pace and Fox to keep their options open. Wednesday, that meant meeting with Josh McCown and making no guarantees regarding Cutler.
It was the smart — and only — move to make in Indianapolis.
Adam Hoge covers the Chicago Bears for WGN Radio and WGNRadio.com. He also co-hosts The Beat, weekends on 720 WGN. Follow him on Twitter at @AdamHoge.
