Windy City Gridiron
Does the Chicago Bears’ sitting at (4-3) make them more or less likely to swing a trade before the deadline hits on Tuesday, November 4, at 3:00 p.m. CT? Could the result of this Sunday’s game aganst the Cincinnati Bengals factor into any possible deals?
The recent free agent addition of defensive back C.J. Johnson-Gardner and the recent activation of defensive end Austin Booker off injured reserve may also play a role.
Before looking at some of the “rumors,” I want to address the use of the word rumor. Oftentimes, league insiders frame their reports as speculation, which means it’s technically not a rumor, but if it’s sourced speculation, then it could be classified as a rumor because the insider may have been told a team is willing to shop a player or would be willing to add at a position if the price were right. That makes deciphering the “rumors” difficult, but when it comes to the big outlets (ESPN, NFL Network, CBS, etc.), they generally add a caveat so we know if it’s just them creating conversation through content, or if there’s a shred of truth to what they are publishing.
For example, earlier this week, ESPN released a list of players who could be moved based on the value they’d potentially bring to a new team — so speculation. But they added the line, “weaving in what we’re hearing,” — so sourced speculation. An insider can’t burn a source, so they’ll never come out with a ‘Team X is shopping this player’ so we get these types of rumor articles.
I’ve been doing this long enough to know that beat reporters and national reporters, get stuff all the time off the record that they can’t technically report on, but that they can cryptically tweet about or frame as speculation. The flip side is that there are a lot of fake insiders who make things up for clicks or twist quotes for easily shareable Facebook posts to fool fans.
These days, thanks to social media, we’re all in the media. The lines between journalists, beat reporters, radio hosts, opinion columnists, content creators, podcasters, bloggers, and fans are blurred, so it’s hard to know what’s real and what’s not.
My advice is to find the sources you trust and follow them. If your sister’s boyfriend DMs you a meme from SackupSports on Facebook about how the Bears are in talks to make a blockbuster trade at the deadline, consider the source and tell him to stop being a dumbass.
Not every reporter/insider/blogger is batting 1.000, and some get worked with bad intel from time to time, but I know who I trust nationally, locally, and in a non-traditional-media sense.
I personally don’t think the Bears are actively in talks to make a trade, but I’m sure general manager Ryan Poles would listen if something presented itself, and he has a few feelers out around the league. A day three pick swap for a player is all that I could...
