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Courtney Cronin, ESPN Staff WriterOct 10, 2024, 11:47 AM ET
- Courtney Cronin joined ESPN in 2017, originally covering the Minnesota Vikings before switching to the Chicago Bears in 2022. Courtney is a frequent panelist on Around the Horn and host of Best Week Ever on ESPN Radio. She also co-hosts The Chicago Bears Podcast on ESPN 1000. She previously worked at the San Jose Mercury News as a multimedia sports journalist.
WARE, England — Chicago Bears chairman George McCaskey confirmed the team’s pursuit of quarterback Tom Brady when the future Hall of Famer was a free agent in 2020.
During Fox’s Week 4 broadcast of the Philadelphia Eagles–Tampa Bay Buccaneers game, Brady revealed a story that he said had never been told before; that the Bears were “very stealth in their recruitment” of him once he left New England.
At the time, former Bears first-round quarterback Mitchell Trubisky was coming off a disappointing 2019 season where the Bears didn’t make the postseason one year after winning the NFC North. While McCaskey said he was not directly part of the pitch to get Brady to consider signing with Chicago, he did confirm the team’s interest.
“Well, that seems like ancient history at this point,” McCaskey said. “I do remember we were interested in pursuing him. It didn’t work out for us. Worked out great for him in Tampa.”
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McCaskey added: “Anytime you’re in a situation like that you’re not putting all of your eggs in one basket. You’re looking at alternatives. It’s the same in free agency, it’s the same in the draft. If the person you’re targeting isn’t available, you want to make sure that you’ve done your due diligence on all other options. So that was one option that we were looking at.”
The Bears ended up acquiring quarterback Nick Foles via a trade with the Jacksonville Jaguars in March 2020.
Four years later, McCaskey is now building a relationship with his new quarterback, rookie Caleb Williams, who was drafted first overall.
Speaking at the Bears’ headquarters at Hanbury Manor outside of London, McCaskey praised Williams as an “irrepressible spirit” as well as Chicago’s coaching staff for creating a setup for the quarterback to succeed.
“I think it’s gone very well,” McCaskey said. “We wanted to have a structure in place for him to succeed, and a lot of that was protecting him from the inevitable distractions when you’re the starting quarterback of the Chicago Bears. Everybody wants some of your time and unfortunately in order for him to do his job properly, he doesn’t have time for everyone. We have to protect him, we have to act as buffers, and I think we have a good support system in place for him.”
The Bears host the Jaguars in Week 6 at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium at 9:30 a.m. ET.
