It’s funny how Josh McCown, close to his 35th birthday, suddenly finds himself attracting more interest than during the earlier days of his career. After a very good half-season with the Chicago Bears he might still re-sign with the team, but there’s a very good chance the offers from the New York Jets, Houston Texans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers will be more flattering.

The Bears would like to re-sign McCown, but his vaule took an upwards spike after 5 starts last season and doing a very good job instead of an injured Jay Cutler most of the time. He threw 13 touchdown passes and only one interception in eight games, with the best interception-per-pass ratio in the NFl with 0.4%.

But after giving Cutler a massive extension, the Bears have bigger needs than backup quarterback, which makes re-signing McCown after letting him test the free agency market become like a very difficult job.

The Jets believe in Geno Smith, but only to a certain extent. The rookie quarterback was very inconsistent last season, and with bigger aspirations than in 2013, having a backup who won’t need much time stepping in if and when Smith disappoints in his progress, McCown would make an excellent fit.

The Houston Texans present a better chance of starting right away. Last season turned into a shocking mess – from Super Bowl contenders into the worst team in the NFL, with their quarterback situation imploding without much of a warning. This isn’t a team in rebuild mode – there are offensive tools and a good defense, but they need to sort out their quarterback situation. McCown has as good of a chance as any to end up starting for them.

The Bucs see themselves in the same clothes as the Texans. A good team all around, but with a big quarterback problem. Mike Glennon might be favored to start after his so-so rookie campaign, but having someone like McCown, ready to start right away with the ability to win games is very intruiging to them.

It’ll come down to money, probably, which gives the Bears the smallest chance of retaining the player.

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