Belief Is Austin Hooper Sweepstakes Will Be Bears vs. Packers

Austin Hooper is widely considered the best tight end expected to hit free agency this year. A steady and dependable target for the Atlanta Falcons the past four seasons, he set career highs in 2019 with 789 yards and six touchdowns despite missing three games with minor injuries. Belief around the NFL is he will have a hot market of teams seeking his services, aided by a lackluster draft class and not much competition in free agency.

Several teams have been connected to him in the past couple of weeks. The Chicago Bears are one of them. Hardly a surprise given how dismal the tight end situation was for them last year. Trey Burton and Adam Shaheen both ended up on IR. Nobody else was able to step up and produce. It hampered everything the Bears tried to do in the passing game, making life more difficult for Mitch Trubisky.

Going after Hooper could solve their problem. That is if they can get past other teams to do it. While plenty will have an interest, NFL scout Dave-Te' Thomas believes the two frontrunners for him will end up being Chicago and the Green Bay Packers. He reported a week ago that the Bears are in on Hooper. However, he thinks their bitter rivals up north will be their biggest challenger trying to sign him.

"I don't see it up in New England because of the cap issue. The Giants were rumored to be in there but I don't see them going ahead and laying $15 million down on a tight end...More than likely Green Bay."

Austin Hooper is good but he's not worth the money

The Packers releasing Jimmy Graham on Wednesday certainly lends credence to the idea that they are in the tight end market. They certainly have enough money to make a run at him now. In all honesty, the Bears are better off letting them pay the money. There is no denying Hooper is a good player. Is he worth $15 million per year? Well considering Travis Kelce makes just over $9.3 million in Kansas City, the answer to that is pretty obvious.

The Bears already have one overpaid tight end on the roster in Burton and that blew up in their faces. They can't afford to sink even more money into a bloated contract when they have lots of other needs. Particularly quarterback. If they give Hooper that money, don't expect any sort of meaningful competition at the far more important position on the roster.