Rozner: Why the Bears should trade Jordan Howard right now

The surprise isn't that the Bears are shopping Jordan Howard.

The surprise would be if they weren't.

It makes all the sense in the world, given that Howard doesn't fit in Matt Nagy's offense, at least not the way the coach wants to play the game.

Yes, Howard could play a role, but the head coach doesn't have a need for that kind of back and at times seemed like he was giving Howard the ball just to give him the ball.

This offense is never going to be the type where they feed a big back and keep on feeding him. It doesn't matter the weather or the score. It's just not a Nagy thing.

It doesn't mean Howard can't be a factor for someone. He's just not going to be a factor for the Bears, so why not try to get something for him?

Howard is cheap at $2 million, but is entering the final year of his rookie deal and the Bears are searching for draft picks, so it's the right move to make, knowing that the Bears will not re-sign him after the 2019 season.

The critics will say that Howard is already on the downside, that he's not as effective as he was in the past. There's no doubt that the life span of workhorse is short, but it's a bit unfair to declare him finished given the inconsistency with which Howard got the ball in 2018.

It's something tackle Bobbie Massie was not shy about discussing last season on several occasions, especially after the Bears defeated the Lions in an ugly 34-22 win at home on Nov. 11, when Howard carried 11 times for 21 yards.

Howard got the ball and went for 9 yards on the first play of the game, and then barely touched the football again until the middle of the fourth quarter.

There were games when Howard didn't look all that happy in the locker room postgame, and that was one of them, but he seemed to handle it well and generally said the right things.

"I didn't really know if I would get it much," Howard said that day, after the Bears defeated the Lions. "I knew there would be a lot of hurry-up so I knew there was a chance that would happen. Just part of the game plan.

"As long as we win, it doesn't really matter. I'm cool with that."

After the first play of the game, Howard got the ball 4 times (for 4 yards) over the next three quarters. Once the Bears were up huge in the fourth, Howard carried several times, averaging a yard per rush, over the final few minutes as the Bears were finally content to run out the clock.

"We do need to run the ball. We will have to," Massie said that afternoon, hoping as all offensive linemen do that the team would eventually run it downhill. "We have a nice stable of running backs and we gotta get them boys going. That's something we need to do."

And Massie stuck up for Howard, remembering he had run for 2,400 yards the previous two seasons.

"Jordan is one of the best running backs in this league. He showed that his first two years here. He's still the same guy," Massie insisted. "Nothing's changed. We just have to open some holes for him and keep feeding him."

But that's not going to occur in Nagy's offense, so there's no sense pretending it might.

In the meantime, another year of sitting around is going to make it difficult for Howard to keep quiet and swallow his frustration. The potential is there for locker room distraction, while there is slim chance he becomes an integral part of the offense.

Credit GM Ryan Pace with understanding that and being willing to part with what was a heck of a fifth-round selection in 2016.

Rather than force a player on his coach, or hang onto a player because Howard was his guy, Pace seems poised to accept reality and move on from Howard.

For both parties, it's simply the wise thing to do.