The Carolina Panthers will release quarterback Cam Newton. Even though they traded for Nick Foles, should the Chicago Bears sign Newton as a free agent?
Cam Newton‘s days as the Carolina Panthers starting quarterback are over.
The writing was on the wall when Carolina signed Teddy Bridgewater as a free agent last week. This notion was only expedited when the Panthers signed XFL star P.J. Walker and traded last year’s starter Kyle Allen to the Washington Redskins on Monday. Carolina was hoping to find a trade partner for the former NFL MVP, but the market was not as robust as the Panthers thought.
So Newton will be released by the Panthers organization on Tuesday after nine seasons with the team. Carolina had reportedly tried to orchestrate deals with the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Chargers for Newton, but nothing materialized. The New England Patriots also have a gaping hole to fill at quarterback with Tom Brady‘s Foxborough departure.
Newton will end up some team, but where is the best destination for him? The Chargers seem like the favorite, while New England feels like a bit of a long shot. Even if the Bears traded for Nick Foles with the Jacksonville Jaguars last week, would it make sense for the Monsters of the Midway to trade for the former face of the Carolina professional football franchise?
From a financial standpoint, this would be an atrocious idea. The Bears have the second-worst cap space situation in the NFL at slightly under $1.7 million. That’s about enough to pay Newton for one game in Bears uniform. So they’ll have to make some moves to free up cap space to even hope to sign him to a one-year deal well below market value.
Even though they only have two quarterbacks on the roster, they combine for a dead cap hit of nearly $25 million. Foles is on the hook for $15.125 million in dead cap, while last year’s starter Mitchell Trubisky would be for a little over $9.2 million in dead cap.
Bears general manager Ryan Pace traded for one of the worst contracts in football in Foles, so he’ll have no potential buyers whatsoever. That leaves him the arduous task of getting someone to bite on Trubisky. Since the Bears haven’t given extended him the fifth-year option, this would be the last year of his rookie deal. Cutting him is an option, but that crushes the Bears in the cap.
Sadly, there is next to know hope for the Bears to land Newton at this point. A dumb team will have to trade for Trubisky on an expiring and Newton would have to sign a deal for a third of his value to compete for a starting job with Foles. Not sure he’d want to sign up for that when he’d have an easier option to win a job outright on a team like the Chargers.
Pace has not only shot himself in the foot this offseason, but reloaded the gun and willingly did it again without learning any lesson whatsoever. The Bears successfully retained the title of having the worst quarterback situation in the NFC North this offseason. Newton will now be free to sign with a team like the Chargers at a discount and give them viability in a distracted media market.
Sorry, Bears fans. Newton will not play for your favorite team this year. Enjoy Foles and Trubisky.