Draft position can never be understated. There is a reason every team covets the #1 overall pick in the draft. It’s a guaranteed ticket to whichever player they want in an entire class, or it’s a golden nugget they can sell off to the highest bidder. The Chicago Bears chose the latter in that regard. However, it isn’t the only valuable pick they hold in this draft, thanks to their struggles last season. Former scout Greg Gabriel revealed on Windy City Gridiron that there would be another that NFL teams place lots of calls about acquiring next week.
Something to remember about the draft is it’s separated into three days. That means the 2nd round starts Day 2 and the 4th round starts Day 3. The top picks of those two rounds are also highly prized. Why? Teams use the interim time between days to evaluate and reshuffle their draft boards. They often realize that a player they really want will likely be gone unless they get to the top spot of the round. While the Bears lost the 32nd pick to Pittsburgh in the Chase Claypool trade, they still hold the top selection in the 4th round.
“If your team has a high second or fourth-round pick, they can always expect calls from clubs looking to move up. Currently, the Bears have the first pick in the fourth round to open Day-3, so I expect they will receive at least four or five calls for that pick. Because it’s a high pick in the round, the team wanting to trade up will usually pay a slight premium for the pick.”
The Chicago Bears would go against the norm by trading out.
There have only been three instances since 2000 where a team holding the top pick of the 4th round moved down. Once in 2001, once in 2008, and lastly in 2013. Two of those trades landed the team a 7th round pick for dropping two or three spots. The 2001 version saw the Chargers get a 5th rounder for going from 96th to 112th. It’s worth noting the Bears have no 6th round pick this year. If Poles hopes to get one, this might be a good time to do it. Then again, the top of the 4th round has often been fertile ground for good players.
Everson Griffen, Owen Daniels, K.J. Wright, Shaun Phillips, and Devonta Freeman all went within the first three picks of the 4th round. The Chicago Bears have another 4th round pick from the Eagles. They could choose to move down from that one if they wish to secure an extra late rounder or two. Poles already showed he could do that last year with his trade-down frenzy in the 5th. The point is that the Bears could move around the board much more beyond just the 1st round.
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