Bear Digest

Thinking Bears Would Trade for Alvin Kamara is Pure Fantasy Football

The Alvin Kamara trade talk looks like so much subterfuge but if were real the Bears should turn tail and run because of the costs and the fact it's a running back

Gene Chamberlain

Thinking Bears Would Trade for Alvin Kamara is Pure Fantasy Football
Thinking Bears Would Trade for Alvin Kamara is Pure Fantasy Football /

Another day, another running back.

The word came out via Twitter from former ESPN reporter Josina Anderson. The Saints were willing to trade Alvin Kamara.

Of course this led to a social media rush about what the Bears should offer, and some reports suggested the Saints wanted a first-round draft pick.

You could almost see Mickey Loomis trolling for Ryan Pace with that one, knowing his old employee didn't have a No. 1 back at the moment due to the groin strain David Montgomery suffered.

Let's squelch this one right here. Pace isn't trading for Kamara unless the asking price is third round or lower, and they can also get creative with the way the contract is structured.

If the Bears weren't going to sign Leonard Fournette when they could have the fourth pick of the 2017 draft at a bargain rate without giving up draft pick compensation, they're not going to throw away the first draft pick they've had in Round 1 since 2018 in order to acquire a running back.

Besides, running backs are simply not the valued commodity they once were. Many teams feel they can get by with pedestrian running backs with good blocking and an outstanding passing game. The Chiefs did it last year, although they did have a pretty decent quarterback. Essentially San Francisco did it. They turned a Bears reject into the hero of the NFC championship game.

The diminished state of backs in 2020 is reflected in the lack of money being paid for them.

The Bears do have a need for a back but it's more as the backup. They didn't have an adequate backup solution even before Montgomery's injury. 

Sure, their running back situation looks funky now, but it's because of Montgomery's injury. Even if the groin injury proves more severe than the 2-4 weeks projected by an NFL Network story, the Bears still know they'll have their top running back soon.

According to Bill Barnwell of ESPN, Kamara's new four-year contract will be somewhere around $52 million for four years with $23.5 million guaranteed.

The Bears are trying to spend their money of the future right now on wide receiver Allen Robinson.

Trading for another back at an amount which would keep them from signing Robinson makes little sense.

Make no mistake, Kamara would fit exactly what the Bears do on offense. He'd fit better than Fournette, who Charles Robinson of Yahoo Sports reported says he has to go to a team with a power running scheme. That rules out the Bears.

Kamara's stopping, starting and cutting, plus the fact Pro Football Focus said he has had 40 broken tackles every year dating back to college, make him an ideal fit in the offense the Bears run. It's like he's a greatly upgraded version of Montgomery.

However, the draft pick compensation, the monetary compensation and the simple fact it's a running back and not a quarterback or receiver make the Bears unlikely trade partners.

If Ryan Pace is spending the money for Allen Robinson and has an unsettled quarterback situation going into the future, then he's going to want a running back who is still on his first contract for three more years, a third-round back's contract.

Twitter: BearDigest@BearsOnMaven

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

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