Chicago Bears: QB Caleb Hanie Won’t Return in 2012, Backups Are Needed
Published by Andrea Hangst on March 7, 2012
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
It’s no surprise that the Chicago Bears will let quarterback Caleb Hanie reach the free agent market next week, choosing to not tender him another deal.
Hanie stepped in to start four games in 2011 after Jay Cutler suffered a broken thumb on his throwing hand that required surgery and ended his season.
Hanie didn’t look all that bad when he had to step in for Cutler in the previous season’s NFC Championship game, completing 65 percent of his passes for a touchdown and two interceptions, but his showing in the 2011 season was dismal at best.
In his four starts last year, Hanie never completed 20 passes in a single game, had a 50 percent completion rate and threw for just 613 yards, good for only three touchdowns and a whopping nine interceptions—three picks apiece in three of his four games.
Clearly, keeping Hanie as Cutler’s primary—or even secondary—backup is not a smart move for the team, considering how his presence on the field practically single-handedly killed the momentum they managed to build in the middle of the season.
However, with Hanie not returning, the Bears will have to think hard about their current quarterback depth.
The team was reportedly impressed with the way Josh McCown stepped in to start their last two games of the year and might extend an offer to him to make him the team’s No. 3 quarterback in 2012, according to ESPNChicago.com’s Jeff Dickerson.
However, that doesn’t answer the question of who will be Cutler’s primary backup in the upcoming season.
Dickerson speculates that Kyle Orton, currently a free agent after finishing last season with the Kansas City Chiefs, could return to Chicago. Orton would provide the Bears with a starting-caliber quarterback behind Cutler as well as having the comfort of employing a known quantity at the position.
Orton is clearly shopping his services around as a starter at the moment, though, and should only end up backing up Cutler if the opportunity to start elsewhere doesn’t materialize.
Other options could be Chad Henne, though he’s already rumored to have a price tag of at least $4 million a year as the top free agent quarterback on the market; Jason Campbell or even another former Bears quarterback, Rex Grossman, could also be in play.
Whoever it is, look for the Bears to make a number of moves in free agency this offseason, not just to bring in a veteran receiver but also to find a suitable backup for Cutler. After what happened in 2011, don’t expect Chicago to make filling this important position an afterthought.
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