[Chico23231]

The Chicago Sun-Times' Jason Lieser reports the Bears are planning to pursue impending free agent Austin Hooper.


26 in November and fresh off career-highs in catches (75), receiving yards (787), and touchdowns (6), Hooper's expected to garner anywhere from $10-$12 million annually on the open market — an amount Chicago may not be able to fork over with roughly $26 million in projected cap space to work with. Still, the interest is obviously there after the Bears saw Trey Burton and Adam Shaheen sit out a combined 15 games together due to injuries last year. General Manager Ryan Pace was also notably high on Hooper out of Stanford, regrettably selecting DL Jonathan Bullard (who the team cut last summer) only nine picks prior to the Falcons calling the tight end's name in 2016.

2nd time Ive heard the Bears connected to Hooper.