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Chicago Bears: Do Jordan Howard trade rumors have legs?

By Carlos Nazario

Photo by John Grieshop/Getty Images
Photo by John Grieshop/Getty Images /
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Rumors swirled early in the offseason that the Chicago Bears entertained the thought of trading running back Jordan Howard. Now, some peculiar actions bring those rumors back up.

Okay, so this is the slow period before the excitement of the draft. Yes, we talk about the prospects the Chicago Bears should go after. However, there’s only so much draft talk you can have. After a while, you hope to talk about something else.

So here we are, about three weeks from the 2018 NFL Draft and something juicy falls into our laps.

Apparently, rumors run rampant that the Bears may part ways with running back Jordan Howard. Yes, the same Howard who amassed more rushing yards in his first two seasons than any other Bears running back. This is a franchise that’s had some tremendous running backs like Gayle Sayers, Walter Payton, and Matt Forte.

How in the world did this happen?

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Apparently, the Bears entertained the thought of trading Howard back when wide receiver Jarvis Landry was available. That sent shock waves through Chicago, where Howard is extremely popular. Ultimately, though, the rumors were shot down.

Now those rumors are swirling again. It appears that Howard deleted all his Instagram pictures related to the Chicago Bears. Why would he do this? This is something a player who gets traded does, right? What precipitated all this?

The Bears are a traditional-type franchise. They’ve always utilized a run-dominating offense and a shutdown defense. With new head coach Matt Nagy, however, things will change. They’ll run a 21st-century offense.

Nagy’s runs a pass-happy offense. He wants the offense to eat up big chunks of yards and not just run a “three yards and a cloud of dust” offense. On the contrary, you’ll see how much the offense changes after the Bears picked up wide receivers Allen Robinson and Taylor Gabriel and tight end Tre Burton. The team already has running back Tarik Cohen, who will be utilized heavily in the passing game.

Once word got out about Howard deleting his Bears pictures, more and more rumors came out. Trade rumors ranging from the New York Giants and the No. 2 pick and Odell Beckham Jr. or the Indianapolis Colts and a couple of their nine picks.

Howard might be the odd man out. Yes, he’s amassed a lot of yards (2,435 in two seasons), but he doesn’t do much else. He is a great inside runner, but won’t beat anyone on the outside. Also, he isn’t a very good blocker and has hands of stone. The “Hands of Stone” moniker worked well for boxer Roberto Duran, but it doesn’t work for a running back trying to make catches.

Nagy wants his running backs to make catches out of the backfield. Payton and Forte were excellent receivers. On the other hand, Howard showed he cannot do those things. Also, by running inside so much he takes a lot of hits. As we know about running backs, those hits take a toll on them and they find themselves out of the league pretty quickly. They fall off the cliff sooner than players of other positions.

I’m not saying I don’t like Howard. If the Bears end up keeping him, I’m okay with it. However, keep in mind that the team will replace him sooner rather than later. Remember all those fans who complained about letting Forte go when he had so much more to give? In two years with the New York Jets, he averaged 3.7 yards per carry and 45.9 yards per game. In contrast, he averaged 4.2 yards per carry and 71.7 yards per game in Chicago.

Next: 5 Defensive tackles to target in the draft

At the end of the day, Howard may still be a Chicago Bear. While these rumors may not come to fruition, at least they add some excitement to the offseason. Let’s hope the team’s play on the field adds excitement as well.

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