When your first name is Bear and you play in the NFL, the prospect of playing in Chicago at some point is almost too good to resist.
After all, every Tom, Dick or Harry can’t wind up playing for a team with the same name. The fact that there aren’t many players named Bear kicking around the league keeps it from being something that comes up all that often, but the planets aligned on Thursday.
The Bears announced that they have signed tight end Bear Pascoe to a one-year deal. The fact that a guy named Bear will be playing for the Bears makes this one of our favorite signings of the offseason regardless of how things play out on the field, but we might as well take a look at the actual football implications anyway.
Pascoe played largely a blocking role on offense in all 16 games for the Falcons last year and he had similar responsibilities while appearing in 66 games for the Giants over the previous five seasons. One of those years saw Pascoe playing alongside Bears tight end Martellus Bennett and he’ll compete with Dante Rosario and Zach Miller for the same spot on the 2015 Chicago roster.