According to Bleacher Report's Jason Cole, "Marcus Mariota has gained more and more traction" in some sections of the Bears front office and could be a possibility with their No. 7 pick if he's still on the board.
The Bears, of course, have Jay Cutler under contract through 2020, and his deal still has a ton of guaranteed money remaining on it. That may not deter the Bears from chasing Mariota though, according to Cole. "Despite the idea that John Fox was brought in as head coach with the presumed idea that he was going to fix Jay Cutler so that the Bears could find out once and for all whether Cutler was the answer at quarterback, there are some people in the Bears organization -- and the Bears pick No. 7 overall -- who believe that Mariota might be the answer and that ultimately, trading Cutler may actually work out."
If the Bears were to trade Cutler, they'd actually save $12.5 million in cap space on their books, according to Over The Cap. Cole floated the Tennessee Titans as one possible team that could be interested, particularly if the Bears felt they had to trade up for Mariota (the Titans own the second pick in the draft). That match makes some degree of sense given that Cutler's strength as a passer -- his strong arm and ability to push the ball down the field -- fits nicely into what Titans head coach Ken Whisenhunt looks for in a quarterback.
There have been reports connecting multiple teams in front of the Bears in the draft -- Tennessee, Washington and the Jets -- to Mariota, so it may in fact take a trade to get him, if that's what the Bears really decide to do. According to the Draft Value Chart used by many teams around the league, the Bears would have to surrender their entire draft and more to move up from the seventh pick to the second pick, though if Cutler were in the trade, that obviously changes the calculation a bit. Either way, this is now something more to watch in the Mariota sweepstakes.
