The Carolina Panthers made it clear this week that they are moving on from Cam Newton when they signed Teddy Bridgewater, but the Chicago Bears could be among the teams that do not want to wait until the Panthers release Newton to make a run at the quarterback.
The Bears have had recent discussions with Carolina about a potential Newton trade, Jonathan Jones of CBS Sports reports. Although it is a virtual certainty Newton will be released if he’s not traded, Chicago may not want to risk having to compete with other teams to sign the former NFL MVP.
The Panthers have been in recent contact with the Bears regarding Cam Newton, per source. The expectation is Newton will be released in the coming days, but CHI may not want to compete in the market for him
— Jonathan Jones (@jjones9) March 18, 2020
The Bears publicly committed to Mitchell Trubisky as their starting quarterback for 2020 at the end of last season, but it is clear they are exploring other options. They reportedly had talks with Bridgewater before he signed with Carolina, and they are said to be targeting other players who could potentially compete with Trubisky for a starting job.
Newton will earn around $19 million in the final year of his contract next season. With the Panthers having clearly moved on from him, they will probably take a mid- or late-round pick for him rather than releasing him. We know of at least one other team that has reached out to Carolina about a potential trade, so a market has definitely developed.
