Bears: Should Ryan Pace swing a trade for 49ers’ Jimmy Garoppolo?

Even if the San Francisco 49ers don’t plan on trading Jimmy Garoppolo, Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Pace might be interested in him.

Despite the Chicago Bears already signing Andy Dalton in NFL free agency, general manager Ryan Pace may not be able to help himself and could try to trade for former Eastern Illinois standout and current San Francisco 49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo.

Even though the 49ers don’t plan to move Garoppolo until at least 2022, CBS Sports has the Bears as the likeliest landing spot if he were to be dealt. Garoppolo and Pace share the same alma mater in Eastern Illinois University. While it could be a story all of Chicagoland can get behind, in theory, it is not in the Bears’ best interest to pursue a Garoppolo trade right now, and here’s why.

Jimmy Garoppolo is not worth the Bears giving up draft capital for him in 2021

Had the Bears not signed Dalton in his free agency, Chicago would have every reason to trade for a native son like Garoppolo. He would feel infinitely more likely to beat out Nick Foles for the starting job than Dalton, even though Dalton was guaranteed the starting job on a condition of him signing with Chicago in the first place. However, the Bears have missed their chance here.

Unless you want to burn a bridge with Dalton faster than the one you burnt with Mike Glennon, the only way the Bears could get Garoppolo would be if Foles was included in the package to San Francisco. Because the Bears were barely a playoff team a year ago, they don’t have enough draft capital to trade for a quarterback we aren’t entirely sure is an upgrade. They must wait until 2022.

Jimmy Garoppolo could become a Bear one day, but that’s not happening until 2022 at the earliest.