Chicago Bears Could Go After Packers Receiver, But Not Who You Think

The Chicago Bears will likely look to sign a wide receiver or two via free agency. One of the players they might target is from the Green Bay Packers. It isn’t the player you think, though.

The NFL’s new year begins a week from today, March 16th. At that time, the free agency frenzy begins. New Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles’ job becomes very tough. Whatever decisions on the table need to be executed or changed.

One of the most important issues for Poles and the Bears is what they do at wide receiver. The only wide receiver of note under contract is Darnell Mooney. Mooney had a breakout season, but he is still young. The unit needs some veterans.

One of the top receivers on the market is Davante Adams. He is the Green Bay Packers’ top receiver and among the top in the NFL. He was Aaron Rodgers‘ favorite target.

Adams is sure to receive a lot of attention. However, Rodgers just signed a new deal and he’ll want Adams back. Of course, with his diva ways he announced he didn’t sign anything yet, but at a minimum, he did say that he’d return for another season at Lambeau Field.

With Rodgers returning, the Packers will do whatever it takes to bring Adams back.

At any rate, even if Adams hits free agency, it’ll take a load of money to sign him. Poles indicated that he prefers to sit back and wait until the second or third wave of free agency to find players. Let the other teams spend and likely overspend on players. Poles has a lot of holes to fill so he needs to be careful with his money.

So, instead of going big-game hunting with Adams, the Bears might just wait and go after another good Packers receiver — Marquez Valdes-Scantling.

In 2021, Valdes-Scantling missed six games. He finished the season with 26 receptions for 430 yards and 3 touchdowns.

The Bears want to have a more attacking offense, especially in the air, in 2022. Valdes-Scantling gives them that. Despite the injury in 2021, he averaged 16.5 yards per reception. In 2020, it was a league-leading 20.9 yards. For his career, his average is 17.5 yards.

There is growing chatter that the Bears are interested in stealing away Valdes-Scantling from the Packers. He’ll fit into the system set up by offensive coordinator Luke Getsy, who came over from Green Bay himself. He won’t be the number one receiver, but he’ll be an integral part of the air attack. He should receive more targets than he did with Green Bay.

Per source, the #Bears are expected to pursue #Packers free agent wide receiver Marquez Valdes-Scantling this offseason.

— Evan Massey (@massey_evan) March 8, 2022

Valdes-Scantling could be the perfect receiver for quarterback Justin Fields. He is a big-bodied receiver (6-foot-4, 210 pounds) who has speed (4.37-40). Fields is an accurate deep passer (third0highest deep accuracy rate in 2021) and Valdes-Scantling will have ample opportunities to make big plays.

We saw how well he did with Rodgers, also an accurate downfield passer. I’m not saying Fields is Rodgers, but if the accuracy is there, we could see a lot of success deep. In 2021, the Chicago Bears receivers had a tough time creating enough separation from defenders to make deep plays consistently. Fields still did a great job of threading the needle on a lot of those deep throws. Imagine throwing the deep ball to an open receiver.

The fit between Valdes-Scantling and the Bears is too good for it not to happen. Having him reunite with Getsy and help in the development of a highly-touted quarterback makes Chicago attractive. Poles needs to play it right so this union happens.