INDIANAPOLIS — The quarterback market always is a driving force during the NFL offseason. Every year it seems eight to 10 teams are in the market for a new quarterback or an upgrade. This year is no different. Given that, Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles isn’t surprised that teams have c ome calling regarding backup quarterback Tyson Bagent. Speaking Tuesday at the NFL scouting combine, Poles confirmed he has fielded “a few” phone calls about Bagent. The Bears are in a great place with starting quarterback Caleb Williams. In his second year, the 2024 No. 1 draft pick threw for a franchise-record 3,942 yards and led the Bears to the divisional round of the playoffs. Poles made it clear that Williams still has things to work on and is by no means a finished product. But at least the Bears are in a place where they know who their starter will be. Meanwhile, they have a young backup in Bagent, 25, who showed promise in four starts as a rookie in 2023 but hasn’t seen significant playing time since, with Williams making all 34 regular-season starts in his career. Bagent came out of nowhere as an undrafted rookie from Division II Shepherd in 2023. The Bears went 2-2 in his four starts in place of an injured Justin Fields that season. Since then, Bagent has taken only 27 regular-season snaps over seven games in the last two seasons. Bagent made enough of an impression on coach Ben Johnson last summer that the Bears signed him to a two-year, $10 million contract extension in August. But with the free-agent quarterback options looking somewhat pedestrian (Daniel Jones, Malik Willis and Aaron Rodgers might top the list, depending whom you ask) and a lot of uncertainty in the draft beyond presumptive top pick Fernando Mendoza, Poles expected to have some hard conversations about Bagent this offseason. “Obviously the tough thing is with what Ben thinks about Tyson, what I think about Tyson, what our locker room thinks about Tyson,” Poles said. “That’s a really tough decision for us. But for Tyson as well, I think he would have an opportunity to go and perform for a team and do some really good things.” When Bagent signed his extension last summer, he acknowledged that he essentially was passing up the opportunity to hit free agency and potentially go to a team that might give him a better chance to compete for the starting job. The opportunity to work with Johnson loomed large in that decision, beyond the money. “Being around this staff and this offense, especially the offensive staff, I think that has been the biggest part in the decision,” Bagent said in August. “Besides just how much I love the city of Chicago, how comfortable I am with everybody.” Bagent’s extension kicks in this year, so the Bears have him under contract for two more seasons. Asked about Bagent on Tuesday, Johnson offered up several fake coughs and slipped in an emphatic “No!” between coughs. “I love Tyson,” Johnson said. “And that’s one that kind of pulls at your heart strings a little bit because he’s someone that you care about so deeply and he’s a hell of a football player, that at some point you want to see him have a chance to (start) himself.” Bears quarterback Tyson Bagent signs autographs before facing the Ravens on Oct. 26, 2025, in Baltimore. (Brian Cassella/Chicago Tribune) Like Poles, Johnson said he would understand if Bagent wanted to give himself a better opportunity to play. He believes Bagent is one of the best 32 quarterbacks in the NFL and that his preseason tape proves that. In three preseason games last August, Bagent completed 67% of his passes for 511 yards with five touchdowns and one interception. With such a small sample size of playing time, Bagent isn’t the type of quarterback a team would acquire and immediately anoint as its starter. But there might be a team with enough uncertainty at the position that it would consider trading for him and giving him a shot to compete for the starting job. It’s unclear what the return would be for Bagent, but it’s unlikely to be more than a late-round draft pick. That’s the going rate for backup quarterbacks. Regardless of how good Johnson and Poles think Bagent could be as a starter, that’s what he is — a backup. The Bears have spent three years developing Bagent. They feel comfortable with him as their backup. Is that worth giving up? Poles has to consider all of that. “You’ve got to weigh the short term and long term,” he said. “So now what’s the cost of replacement to get someone like Tyson? We spent a lot of time developing him. Ben spent a lot of time developing him. So you’ve got to replace that as well. So interesting dynamic there that we’ve got to work through.” ...read more read less