Bears listed with 9th-best odds to land Deshaun Watson

Deshaun Watson has requested a trade from the Texans, marking a rare instance where a young, Pro Bowl quarterback could switch teams.

With their obvious need at the quarterback position, the Bears have been named as a potential landing spot for Watson, should Houston decide to trade him. NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport mentioned Chicago as a team that has reached out to the Texans regarding Watson’s availability on Thursday, adding fuel to the rumors that the Bears could have interest in the 25-year-old quarterback.

Though they have a glaring hole at quarterback, the Bears aren’t currently seen as favorites to land Watson, should he be traded. As of a couple weeks ago, they were tied for the ninth-best odds to trade for the three-time Pro Bowler with +1000 odds, translating to roughly a 9.1 percent chance. At the time, the Panthers, who play roughly two hours away from Watson’s alma mater of Clemson, are currently the odds-on favorites at +625.

The Bears don’t have the high-end draft capital to offer the Texans that teams like the Panthers, Dolphins and Jets can, who are the three teams listed as having the most favorable odds, in that order. What they do have, however, is a desperation to secure a quarterback and a general manager in Ryan Pace who has proven that he is more than willing to go all-out to fill a specific need on their roster.

Though the listed odds have not been updated since the Rams traded for Matthew Stafford, Los Angeles was listed at a long-shot +1500, so the move should have little to no effect on the Bears’ betting odds. The move does give Chicago one fewer team to compete for Watson, though.