PALM BEACH, Fla. — Bears general manager Ryan Poles wants to give quarterback Nick Foles his wish: a ticket out of Chicago.
Poles said flatly Monday that Trevor Siemian will be Justin Fields’ backup and that he intends to trade Foles.
“Nothing has popped up right now, but we’re working on it,” Poles said. “Hopefully something pops up.”
Foles has been problematic ever since Ryan Pace traded a fourth-round pick to the Jaguars for him and committed to a three-year, $24 million contract.
After a brutal first season in which he couldn’t beat out Mitch Trubisky for the starting job in summer and then lost the spot to Trubisky after a brief run as the starter, Foles was shelved. Former coach Matt Nagy declared him the third-stringer last spring, and Foles said publicly he hoped to be traded to a better situation.
The Bears couldn’t find a taker, and he played just one game for them. With Fields and Andy Dalton both injured, Foles led the team to a 25-24 comeback victory at Seattle in Week 16.
In two seasons with the Bears, he has an 82.6 passer rating to go with 11 touchdown passes and eight interceptions. At 33 and four seasons removed from winning Super Bowl MVP, it’s doubtful there will be a strong market.
Siemian, 30, signed a two-year, $4 million deal after playing six games off the bench for the Saints last season. Poles was drawn to his overall game, as well as his history working with elite quarterbacks Peyton Manning and Drew Brees.
“In this offense, I think he’s a better fit [than Foles],” Poles said. “In terms of a guy who has been behind Peyton and Brees, there’s also a wealth of knowledge he can bring to Justin.”
Bills bring back Bates
Poles had high hopes for Bills offensive lineman Ryan Bates when he signed him to an offer sheet as a restricted free agent last week, but he’ll have to look elsewhere after the Bills matched Poles’ four-year, $17 million offer to keep Bates, 25, on Monday.
“Yeah, it stinks,” Poles said. “But that’s a part of the RFA process. It’s out of your control. You put your best foot forward ... and we came strong.”
Bates likely would’ve competed for a guard spot. He played all 17 games for the Bills last season, including four starts.
Assist from Colts
One of Bears coach Matt Eberflus’ biggest advantages as he implements his defense is that he brought four assistants from the Colts with him, including coordinator Alan Williams.
He can thank his old boss. As Eberflus emerged as a head-coaching candidate Colts coach Frank Reich preemptively gave him a green light to take anyone he wanted from the defensive staff.
Reich did it mainly because he knew whoever replaced Eberflus in Indianapolis — they hired Gus Bradley — would want his own assistants.
“Matt gets the benefit of that ... [but] it worked out well for both of us,” Reich said.
