Last night agent Drew Rosenhaus e-mailed the entire league to say the Chicago Bears are willing to trade tight end Greg Olsen. Today the Bears have, indeed, traded Olsen -- to the Carolina Panthers.
Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune reports that the Bears traded Olsen to the Panthers for a player and a draft pick. There’s no word on who the player is or what the draft pick is, although Biggs notes that the player is not Steve Smith. (Sorry, Bears fans.)
It’s expected that the Panthers will also work out a new contract with Olsen, who is entering the final year of his rookie contract with the Bears.
For the Bears, the deal means the team is radically overhauling the tight end position: It comes on the same day they cut tight end Brandon Manumaleuna and signed tight end Matt Spaeth.
For the Panthers, the deal shows once again that they’re willing to be extremely aggressive about spending money to improve right now. And Cam Newton just got a good pass-catching tight end.