Shane Carden: Signs with Chicago Bears as UDFA
Former East Carolina quarterback Shane Carden was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Chicago Bears.
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Carden was one of the few East Carolina Pirates players that had a chance of getting drafted. Unfortunately none of the Pirates joined Justin Hardy on the draft board.
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Still Shane Carden has landed in a pretty good spot for making his way into the League. The Chicago Bears have three quarterbacks currently on roster. That means that Carden needs to beat out one of them if he at least wants to make the practice squad. It is unusual for NFL teams to carry three quarterbacks these days, although the Bears might to avoid a Jay Cutler injury.
Bears fans have never quite been happy with Cutler. Cutler walked into Chicago with the best reputation of any quarterback since Jim McMahon. Unfortunately the wins have never quite come. The Bears needed an offense when Cutler arrived, and have need to retool the defense while he has been there. Many Chicago fans want to see him succeed, but a growing number may want to move on.
If the season goes south, Cutler may well be benched late in the year. So the question becomes: who do you replace him with? I realize Chicago is closer to Notre Dame than Charlotte is, but the age of Jimmy Clausen is not upon the Bears. Clausen is a known entity at this point. That knowledge is the advantage of any other quarterback who would challenge him.
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The Bears have several weapons to throw to, and what they would need as a backup quarterback is a distribution specialist. They need someone to come in, make good throws and not throw interceptions. Carden can do these things. The Air Raid system should have trained him to look at all kinds of options and reads. All he needs to do is find Alshon Jeffery and Martellus Bennett and let them do the rest.
So Carden has a lot to play for as mini-camps start. I think John Fox would be very wise to keep Carden around for the long haul.