Chicago Bears: 3 mistakes Pace must avoid as free agency begins

Don’t overpay for Dalton

Over the course of the NFL Combine, the quarterback most commonly linked to the Bears was current Cincinnati Bengals signal-caller, Andy Dalton. The Red Rifle, as he is affectionately known, has become expendable as the Bengals will almost certainly select Joe Burrow with the first overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft.

Consequently, the Bengals have been listening to offers for the 32-year-old Dalton. However, it has been reported that their initial asking price is a second-round pick. Hopefully whatever you spit out all over your computer didn’t fry it, but yes, you read that right — a second-rounder.

Now, I have very little confidence they will actually net that, and they should aim high in their initial asking price. However, even something in the neighborhood of a third or even a fourth-round pick would be way too much to give up for Dalton, who would also come with a nearly $17 million price tag next season.

While Dalton has led teams to the playoffs in the past and has been a quality game manager proving he can be a steady hand to lead an offense, his numbers last season weren’t appreciably different than those of Case Keenum who would cost the Bears no draft picks and half the money.

At the end of the day, neither Dalton nor Keenum is going to put this team over the top and make them Super Bowl contenders. Sure it might make them more efficient on offense and maybe get them into the playoffs, but is that worth losing a fourth-rounder (which has been good to Pace — see Eddie Jackson, Nick Kwiatkoski, and Tarik Cohen) and money to address other needs on the team? I say absolutely not.