Talk of AJ to the Eagles

www.chicagotribune.com/sports/football/bears/blog/ct-alshon-jeffery-trade-rumors-bears-mailbag-20161026-story.html

Bears Q&A: Alshon Jeffery trade rumors, Jay Cutler's return and more

By Brad Biggs, 10/26

...But I find it difficult to believe the Bears will trade Jeffery. What’s the upside in shedding their best offensive player who is 26? Don’t tell me it’s a mid-round draft pick. They could get that in the form of a compensatory pick if Jeffery eventually departs as a free agent.



...But if the Eagles acquired Jeffery it would be on a nine-game (if they acquired him before Sunday’s game against the Cowboys) or eight-game rental. That’s it. Jeffery cannot sign a contract extension until the end of the regular season. That means he’s destined to reach the free-agent market if the Bears (or Eagles) do not place the franchise tag on him again for 2017 at a price tag of just more than $17.5 million.



Don’t be naïve and think the Eagles could work out some type of wink-wink deal with Jeffery and his agent for a multi-year extension come January. If Jeffery senses he’s getting close to the open market, he’s going to keep all options open as any player would. He’d only be negotiating against himself to do a deal in January.



Forget additional draft picks for the Bears for a minute. What would they do at wide receiver without Jeffery? It’s widely assumed at this point that the franchise is going to go in a different direction at quarterback at the end of the season. I imagine general manager Ryan Pace is going to want some wide receivers that can be real assets for his new quarterback. Take Jeffery out of the equation and the Bears are one of the weakest teams in the NFL at the position because they have no idea what Kevin White will be like in 2017. It’s uncertain at this point if White will return from leg surgery to play in December. Eddie Royal is hurt once again and the guaranteed money in his contract is done after this season. Cameron Meredith has been a pleasant surprise with expanded opportunities in the last two months but he’s probably not ready to be a frontline player. I think there is a much better chance the Bears look at signing Jeffery to a long-term contract averaging $14 million per season.



The bottom line to me is trading Jeffery for a mid-round draft pick doesn’t benefit the Bears.




Btw, for those that don't know who Biggs is and why we should listen to what he's saying. He said all offseason that Whitehair's best position was at OC; take a look at what he's doing and you'll have to assume the guy has a clue. He also is a Chicago beat writer, so if the team was looking at trading AJ, I think this article would have a much different feel.  Could he be wrong? Sure but what he's stating makes a lot more sense then it does for the Bears to trade AJ for a pick they likely get at the end of the season anyways.

www.csnphilly.com/philadelphia-eagles/pederson-refutes-reports-linking-eagles-alshon-jeffery-torrey-smith


Cue the posters who now argue: "Of course he'll deny it" or my all time favorite "where there is smoke there's fire."

In some cases that is the case, in this instance apparently the original tweet about the trade was debunked fairly quickly.