Report: Bears will give a tryout to North Texas QB Mason Fine next week

According to multiple reports, the Chicago Bears are planing to tryout former North Texas quarterback Mason Fine next week.

The Chicago Audible’s Nicholas Moreano confirmed the report with Fine’s high school coach and he also got some details on the timeline.

After being the most prolific passer in Oklahoma high school football history, Fine went on to be a three year starter (plus 9 starts as a freshman) for the North Texas Mean Green where he ended his career with several school records.

Finished his career the all-time leading passer in program history (12,505 yards), first in passing touchdowns (93), first in passer efficiency (140.68), first in touchdowns responsible for (100), is the record-holder in career completions (1,039), career pass attempts (1,655), second in career completion percentage (62.8 percent), and has the most 300-yard passing games in program history (18).

Despite being the most decorated passer in North Texas history, Fine wasn’t invited to the NFL Combine, and when his pro day was cancelled his path to the NFL became even harder.

But the 5’11’ Fine kept working all offseason in hopes he would get a shot in camp with a team. “I’m not giving up on this dream,” Fine said in June via Tulsa World. “I still want to play football for as long as I can. I still got some things I want to accomplish. I’ve been trying to be positive.”

I caught up with our lead draft analyst, Jacob Infante, to get his thoughts on Fine.

“I was pushing for the Bears to pursue a rookie quarterback either late on Day 3 or in undrafted free agency, and while they chose to not add any new faces right after the draft, I’m on board with them taking a look at Mason Fine. Finishing as North Texas’ all-time leader in passing yards and passing touchdowns among numerous other statistics, Fine was a three-year full-time starter who was consistently productive for the Mean Green. He’s a good athlete for the quarterback position and has the agility to maneuver the pocket and make defenders miss. He has shown quick processing abilities for a Group of 5 signal-caller, and he has had some pretty impressive flashes of deep ball placement.

Fine isn’t going to be mistaken for a developmental starter type by any means: he’s only 5-foot-11 and 190 pounds and has adequate arm strength. His mechanics could also be improved upon a bit. Despite having a capped ceiling, Fine would be a nice addition to the Bears’ quarterback room as an attempt to push Tyler Bray for a roster spot and finally try the experiment of grooming a young backup.”

With so much uncertainty this year due to the pandemic, it behooves teams to do their due diligence at the most important position in the game.

The Saints, Cowboys, Eagles and Cardinals are a few of the teams that expressed an interest in him this offseason, but if all goes well at Halas Hall on Wednesday he could be in the mix with Bray for a practice squad spot with the Bears come September.