BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills agreed to sign former Chicago Bears starter Mitch Trubisky to a one-year contract on Thursday, and serve as Josh Allen’s primary backup.
Trubisky was the No. 2 pick in the 2017 draft who has struggled through inconsistencies since leading the Bears to the playoffs in 2018.
Trubisky went 29-21 with Chicago and lost the confidence of the team prior to last season. The Bears declined to pick up the fifth-year option on the quarterback’s contract, while also acquiring Nick Foles in a trade with Jacksonville.
Trubisky was benched in a Week 3 comeback win at Atlanta and didn’t resume playing until late November. He finished 6-3. The 26-year-old was not re-signed and the Bears signed Andy Dalton to a one-year, $10 million contract.
The Bears gave up four draft picks in trade with San Francisco in order to trade up to select Trubisky out of North Carolina.
In Buffalo, Trubisky gets what general manager Brandon Beane called a fresh start and an opportunity to re-establish himself.
“This is a reset for him,” Beane said. “We don’t expect this to be a long-term thing. Hopefully, in a year he’ll get a chance to go back and land a nice contract and a starting job.”
Trubisky replaces veteran Matt Barkley, who was not re-signed after spending the past two-plus seasons as Allen’s backup.
Beane noted the 6-foot-2, 215-pound Trubisky has similar strong-armed and mobile attributes as Allen, who is coming off a breakout season. The third-year starter set numerous single-season passing and scoring records in leading Buffalo to a 13-3 mark.
Trubisky has topped 3,000 yards passing twice, with his best season coming in 2018, when he completed 289 of 434 attempts for 3,223 yards and 24 touchdowns with 12 interceptions.
Overall, he’s completed 64% of his attempts for 10,609 yards and 64 touchdowns with 37 interceptions.
The Bills won their first AFC East title in 25 years, and also made their deepest playoff run by reaching the AFC championship game for the first time since the 1993 season. Buffalo’s season ended with a loss to Kansas City.
Beane also announced the team reached an agreement to re-sign backup running back Taiwan Jones, who spent much of last season playing on special teams.
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