The Chicago Bears could look at trades with Matt Forte, Brandon Marshall or Jay Cutler this offseason and teams like the Washington Redskins, Oakland Raiders, Houston Texans, Tennessee Titans and NY Jets could be interested in making moves, as John Fox and GM Ryan Pace have not given the players any guarantees about their future into 2015.
The Bears are coming into the offseason after making some major changes and they now have Fox as the new coach and Pace as the new general manager. The team opted to fire Marc Trestman and Phil Emery after two bad years in Chicago and last season was the final straw. Forte took to Twitter and linked to some trade rumors and later wrote that he hoped to be a Bear for life.
Brad Biggs at the Chicago Tribune wrote a column about Forte and suggested that he could be traded this offseason. The Bears went just 5-11 and did not look good in most games and now the team has to decide how they will tackle the future. Fox and Pace could look at blowing things up and rebuilding, but they likely will try and make some changes while also trying to compete in the NFC North.
Fox was "noncommittal" about Cutler in his first press conference and he followed through on that at the NFL combine when asked about it. According to Jeff Dickerson on Twitter, Fox gave no commitments about Cutler and Marshall's future in Chicago and he said that he will be looking at things from a long range perspective. Fox said that there is "ability and talent" in Cutler and also had praise for Marshall, but Fox along with Pace said that they want Marshall's number one priority to be football, referring to his appearances on the Inside the NFL show.
Cutler has a massive contract and that puts a wrench in what the Bears would like to do, as he may be tougher to trade. Some teams could handle that cap hit and he is signed for the next six years, but the Bars may also grit their teeth and stick with Cutler. There is a bit of a shortage of franchise QBs in the league and teams like the Browns and Jets have the draft picks to make a move if they want. Cutler clearly has some talent based on what he has done in the past, but with a massive contract and a bad season behind him, the team could look at moving on. Cutler set career highs in touchdown passes and completion percentage, but he led the league in interceptions and also had six lost fumbles.
The Bears offense was not consistent and the team was very disappointed, as they felt with the talent they had they could be one of the best units in the league. Marshall has been as productive as anyone the past few years, while Matt Forte, Martellus Bennett and Alshon Jeffery are all strong talents. Marshall had a disappointing season in 2014, dealing with injuries and putting up some of his worst career numbers. The team has a decision to make, as his $7.5 million will be guaranteed in March.
Marshall comes in after making 61 catches in 13 games for 721 yards and eight touchdowns, which is a major drop-off from where he was the previous two seasons. Marshall had 218 combined catches and went over 2500 yards over the previous two years, making 23 TD grabs in that span.