The Chicago Bears outbid nobody to sign a backup quarterback to a $44 million deal
The Chicago Bears made a surprising move in free agency on Thursday, signing 27-year-old quarterback Mike Glennon to a three-year, $43.5 million deal, according to NFL.com's Ian Rapoport.
In the process, the Bears appeared to have outbid, well, no one in particular.
Glennon has spent the last two seasons of his three-year career as a backup with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He's started just five games since starting 13 in his rookie year.
While it's not unusual for teams to target young backup quarterbacks like Glennon and give them a shot to start, it looks like the Bears went above and beyond to sign Glennon, according to Albert Breer of the MMQB.
Rapoport also reports that the Bears will still likely draft a quarterback.
It's unclear what the structure of Glennon's deal is, so perhaps there are options for the Bears to move on if Glennon doesn't play well. As Pro Football Talk's Michael David Smith notes, the Bears are still paying Glennon slightly less than most starting quarterbacks. It's not a bad deal for the Bears if Glennon proves to be capable and helps them compete while they develop a younger quarterback.
The problem is that the Bears seemed to have severely outbid the competition for no reason. There's quite a gulf between an average of $9 million per year (what other teams were reportedly offering) and $15 million per year (what the Bears are paying). The Bears are paying starter's money for what appears to be a rental. If they draft a quarterback who proves ready to start by next year, the Bears could have one of the more expensive backups in the league.