McNown Traded to the Dolphins

Cade McNown is no longer a Chicago Bear, much less the team’s quarterback of the future.

The embattled former UCLA All-American, selected with the 12th pick in the 1999 NFL draft, was traded Wednesday to the Miami Dolphins, where he is expected to compete with Mike Quinn for the third-string job behind starter Jay Fiedler and Ray Lucas.

The Bears received a sixth-round draft pick in 2002 and a conditional seventh-round pick in 2003, which can be elevated to either a sixth-, fifth- or third-round selection based on McNown’s performance in 2002.

The Dolphins also received a 2002 seventh-round selection.

The deal continues a precipitous fall for McNown, who was third in the Heisman Trophy balloting in 1998 but quickly wore out his welcome in Chicago with fans, teammates and, ultimately, coaches because of ill-advised comments and lackluster play.

He won three of 15 starts, threw more interceptions than touchdown passes and was unpopular with teammates, who privately accused him of finger-pointing and immaturity, and Bear fans, a group of whom started a Web site titled https://tradecade.com.

The Bears were reportedly ready to release the 24-year-old left-hander if the trade with the Dolphins had not worked out. He had fallen to fourth on the depth chart behind Shane Matthews, Jim Miller and Danny Wuerffel.

Still, the Green Bay Packers also were reportedly interested in trading for McNown before withdrawing their offer Monday. And the Dolphins obviously saw an upside, especially at a discount price.

“I could not be happier with our quarterback play to this point with Jay and Ray,” Coach Dave Wannstedt said, “but any time there is an opportunity to possibly better your football team in the future, there is an obligation to do that. We really believe this could be an opportunity.”

Rick Spielman, the Dolphins’ vice president of player personnel and part of the Bears’ brain trust that drafted McNown, engineered the deal.

“He seemed very humble on the phone,” Spielman told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel after speaking with McNown, who was expected to arrive in Miami late Wednesday. “He seemed very excited about getting an opportunity to start over. . . .

“I had no qualms laying out to him what he’s coming into and what he has to do, and [I’ll have] no qualms about moving on if it’s something we feel is going to be a detriment.”

UCLA Coach Bob Toledo seemed relieved for his former quarterback.

“I think it will be a positive thing,” he said. “When you have problems somewhere, it’s good to get a fresh start.”

Times staff writer Steve Henson contributed to this report.

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Bad News, Bear

The 12th player selected in the 1999 NFL draft, Cade McNown played only two seasons with the Chicago Bears before being traded Wednesday to the Miami Dolphins. McNown, 3-12 as a starter, never showed the form that helped UCLA to a 10-2 record in 1998. His two-season statistics:

McNown arrives in Miami with three quarterbacks ahead of him on the depth chart. Here are statistics for those players from their most productive seasons.