The Chicago Bears have made drastic changes at the QB
position by FINALLY letting go of Jay Cutler & bringing in Mike Glennon
from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in free agency this off-season. Glennon was
signed to a 3yr/$45 million deal on the first day of free agency on March 9th.
They also added QB Mark Sanchez recently to a 1 year deal to be Glennon’s
backup as he’s already been named starting QB. None of the 3 QB’s who started
for the Bears remain on the current roster (Jay Cutler, Brian Hoyer, Matt
Barkley).
Glennon was made a 3rd round pick by the Buccaneers in the
2013 and has been productive for his slot in the Draft. Glennon has a 5-13
career record as a starter with the Bucs, I think that record is very
misleading being that he was on some bad Bucs teams that weren’t there yet as a
complete unit. He produced despite what the record shows. His
rookie season in 2013 was a productive season having thrown for 2,608 yards, 19
touchdowns and only 9 interceptions. In 2014, he split time with QB Josh McCown.
Meanwhile, Glennon still was productive throwing for 1,417 yds, 10 TD’s and 6
INT’s. In 2015, Glennon was pushed to the bench with the Bucs having earned the
#1 overall pick and they used it on a former Heisman Trophy winner from Florida State in QB Jameis
Winston. The acquisition of Winston pushed Glennon to the bench as he didn’t
see a snap in the 2015 season. 2016 was much of the same as he only threw 11
pass attempts, but he did complete 10 of them.
One of the concerning questions from various sources is “Did
the Bears overpay for Glennon?”. In my opinion they didn’t because the market
for a starting QB in today’s NFL is higher than it’s ever been and $12-14
million a year is the starting price of a QB on the free agent market. Being
that Glennon was the hottest commodity in this year’s market the $15 million
per year salary was what the market coveted for his services. With the Bears
being in desperate need of a change at the QB position they had to cash out a
bit to get the QB the absolutely needed. It was time to change due to the inept
play and inconsistently from Jay Cutler so I think the contract is justifiable.
Glennon has the physical tools to be a productive QB in Today’s
NFL. He has the height at 6’6 and the ideal weight for a QB at 225 lbs. He has
a very strong live arm and can make all the throws necessary in an offense. He
has very good accuracy to spread the ball to his different receivers. He can
see over the defenders and his own lineman with the height.
One thing that I truly think that could halter the progress
of Mike Glennon is the weapons that they’ve surrounded him with. The loss of
Alshon Jeffery to the Philadelphia Eagles is going to prove HUGE in this
offense and it doesn’t give him a big time go to threat in the offense. Jeffery’s
speed and size at 6’3 220lb will be a huge loss due to his hands and catch
radius, also his ability to slide the coverage towards his side of the field
and open things up for other receivers to be utilized. With WR’s Kevin White
& Eddie Royal struggles to stay on the field due to injuries, it’s going to
be hard to count on them to be a consistent part of the offense and gain rhythm
with Glennon due to unavailability. What does give Glennon help is the
emergence of a strong running game in RB Jordan Howard, and a come up from WR
Cameron Meredith. Free agent signings of WR’s Kendall Wright (Titans) and
Markus Wheaton (Steelers) can help with having those inside speed threats. Just
the loss of the #1 go to guy in Alshon Jeffery could end up being very costly
for Glennon & the Bears.
Another question that will arise will be “Will the time spent
on the bench leave him rusty?” I personally don’t think it will be something
that hurts overall but I feel he will find some struggles because he hasn’t
been playing against live in game defense much in the past 2 season. It’s going
to take Glennon a bit of time to get himself adjusted and get back into the
flow of playing against live defenses, but with reps and time that’s something
that will really go away and not affect the long-term growth and success of him
and the Bears as an offense.
In my opinion I see Glennon as more of a place holder, a
bridge to sort of speak until the Bears as an organization sees someone that
they absolutely fall in love with a draft prospect coming out within the next
2-3 years. With Glennon, it gives the Bears a chance to move forward without
the cancer known as Jay Cutler. I
truthfully hope that I’m wrong about that as a true diehard Bears fan. Will he
provide and upgrade over Jay Cutler? The answer to that is a definite YES.
