Over the winter, M.J. Hartwig had a series called "Making Sense of Nonsense" as he tried to find rationalization by some of the offseason moves in baseball. This morning, I find myself doing something similar for the Chicago Bears, who acquired defensive end Gaines Adams from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in exchange for a 2010 second round pick.
The Bucs are 0-5 and are in the midst of a major rebuilding project. So I cannot fathom a reason why their management would trade the former No. 4 overall pick in the 2007 draft to a NFC rival for a second round pick. On the other side, why would the Bears want to acquire a player who has clearly underperformed since coming to the NFL while mortgaging their future in the process.
I guess one man's garbage is another man's gold.
Adams broke out in a big way during his junior year at Clemson, collecting 9.5 sacks and followed it up with a 12.5 sack season as a senior. The 6-foot-5-inch, 258-pound lineman was named to all five official All-American teams, justifying his place an an elite-level draft pick. However, Adams has struggled on the field since coming to the pros, leaving critics and experts to label him as a bust as the team passed on (the real) Adrian Peterson, who was selected three picks later by the Minnesota Vikings.
Somewhere, the Bears think this is a good move. And on some level it is. Acquiring Adams is somewhat of a safety net in case the team is unable to to re-sign Adawale Ogunleye or Mark Anderson. Ogunleye is leading the team with 4.5 sacks, while Anderson has played well -- but not well enough compared to his monster rookie season.
Adams could also find himself as the pet project of defensive line coach Rod Marinelli, who has done an outstanding job reforming the Bears' front four into a fearsome group of badasses. And while Marinelli has earned his paycheck through four games, he could go further into cementing his place on the coaching staff by milking all the talent out of Adams.
For the second straight season, the Bears will be without first and second round picks -- unless the team acquires one before the April draft. It's not as if the Bears have had great success in the top two rounds, but that's a back-handed insult of a team's ability to scout top talent if I've ever heard one.
So all the Bears trade rumors were a bit misguided. Does Jerry Angelo have any one else to deal for, or yet, does he have anything to deal in the first place?
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