Chicago Bears Rumors: 3-team race for free agent Austin Hooper

There has been little doubt the Chicago Bears are in on Austin Hooper, but they’ll have some competition.

Last season, the Chicago Bears had a couple of major issues surface on offense. We can talk all day long about the offensive line or the problems Mitchell Trubisky faced in his development.

But, one of the worst aspects of the Bears’ offense was seen at the tight end position. By now, most fans know all about this conundrum.

The position was so putrid in 2019 that not a single tight end on the Bears finished the season with more than 100 receiving yards. Re-read that in case you didn’t catch it; that stat wasn’t referring to a 100-yard receiving game. It was referring to 100 receiving yards over the course of the entire 16-game season.

This offseason, fans are hopeful that general manager Ryan Pace will fix the problem via either free agency or the NFL Draft — or both, quite honestly. One of the bigger names out there, if not the biggest, is soon-to-be former Atlanta Falcons tight end Austin Hooper.

Earlier this offseason, the Falcons made it known that they would not bring Hooper back to Atlanta, allowing him to enter the free agent pool instead. The Bears, of course, should be one of the teams to jump right into that conversation.

Already, we’ve seen reports that the Bears are ready to heavily pursue Hooper. That makes a lot of sense, obviously. But, how much competition will they face in landing Hooper?

A brand-new report out of ESPN has Hooper’s free agency looking at three specific teams which are ready to go after him hard: The Washington Redskins, Green Bay Packers and, of course, the Bears.

It should be no surprise that the Packers and Redskins are in on Hooper. First of all, the Redskins are also desperate at the position after cutting ties with Jordan Reed, who hasn’t been able to stay healthy for a while now.

But, the Packers also cut ties with their starting tight end Jimmy Graham just a few days ago. Aaron Rodgers needs a threat at the position, and Hooper would be quite the get.

It’s not exactly shocking, at this point, to see the Packers in on another Bears target. Just a couple of years ago, they were also rumored to want Allen Robinson. That same year, they offered a deal to cornerback Kyle Fuller, who ultimately stayed in Chicago.

This is a situation to monitor going forward, especially in respect to Green Bay. We’ll continue to have the latest on Hooper and the Bears as more information leaks over the next 48 hours.