Report: Bears and Bengals have discussed Andy Dalton Trade

This one shouldn’t come as a shock after both Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace and head coach Matt Nagy have talked about wanting to get some experienced competition for quarterback Mitchell Trubisky, but this is the first concrete report on the subject.

The Athletics's Paul Dehner Jr. is reporting that the Cincinnati Bengals are indeed shopping quarterback Andy Dalton and the Bears have interest.

From his recent article (the bold is mine):

“The first and most obvious is the Bears, who have been in touch with the Bengals on the topic. If looking to give ‘competition’ to Mitch Trubisky, Dalton would be just that. His contract is a decent number, but it’s digestible when you have Trubisky still on a rookie deal.”

Dalton may not be the sexiest option on the market for the Bears, but his experience running an RPO offense, and three years working with Chicago offensive coordinator Bill Lazor, makes him an obvious candidate to be in the Navy and Orange in 2020.

There’s no specifics on a trade package, but with Dalton’s place in Cincinnati waning with their expected choice of LSU signal caller Joe Burrow in the 2020 NFL Draft, the Bengals will want to get something in return instead of simply releasing him.

Dalton only has one year left on his contract at a relatively inexpensive $17.7 million, so flipping a day three choice or a conditional pick could make sense for the Bears.

Waiting for free agency to play out — so they know where the available quarterbacks will end up — could be an option for the Bengals, and that could lead to more teams interested in a trade for Dalton.

Dalton will turn 33-years old this October and he has started 133 games in nine years, all with Cincinnati.