You get all kinds of crazy trade rumors this time of year, and a lot of them will turn out to be just rumors. But we've also heard talk that NFL GMs expect there to be more trades this year than in a typical offseason, and there have already been three -- involving Alex Smith, Marcus Peters and Robert Quinn -- before the league year has even started. But yesterday's wild one was tough to believe.
According to NBC Sports Chicago's John Mullin, the Bears and Dolphins have discussed a Jordan Howard for Jarvis Landry deal. Later Ian Rapoport disputed that one, saying the Bears have no interest in trading Howard. So maybe there's not a lot of truth to it.
What is true is that Bears GM Ryan Pace has made some questionable moves in his three-year tenure with the team. Every GM has some hits and misses, and not all of Pace's moves have turned out bad. He was in charge when Howard was drafted, after all, and has made a couple of good signings, most notably lineman Akiem Hicks and linebacker Danny Trevathan.
But the team's interest in Landry is the latest in a long line of pursuits of slot receiver types in recent years. Landry just led the league in receptions, so nothing wrong with him. But in Pace's tenure they've swung and missed on Eddie Royal, Victor Cruz and Markus Wheaton. They signed Kendall Wright a year ago, and he led the team in receiving, but that doesn't really make him a great signing -- just the top producer in a bad receiving corps.
Aside from the slot receiver dart game, Pace obviously missed badly on Mike Glennon, who will be released soon. He seemingly acknowledged it by trading up to draft Mitchell Trubisky just six weeks later, and the jury is very much out on whether Trubisky merited his high selection. Hey, Jared Goff had a lousy rookie season, too.
The story on the Howard rumor indicates new coach Matt Nagy doesn't think Howard is a good fit for his offense. Howard has averaged 26 catches his first two seasons, while also (according to Pro Football Focus) dropping 14 passes.
But the Bears have other, capable pass-catchers at running back, especially Tarik Cohen (53 receptions for 353 yards last year). So seems odd that they'd dump a running back like Howard, who's off to a nice start to his career. And it looks like a dump when you consider that Miami franchised Landry strictly in hopes of dealing him; they probably can't afford to pay him that much, and will need to work out a trade in order to make any other moves. They don’t really plan on him being with the team next season.
As a side note, the stock of Kenyan Drake would obviously take a considerable hit if the Dolphins acquired Howard. It would relegate him to third-down back status, ignoring his solid performance as lead back down the stretch.
So we'll see, but for now I'm guessing (and hoping) this rumor is only that, and nothing more.
--Andy Richardson