The Chicago Bears navigated the market carefully after it became official they would land the #1 overall pick. GM Ryan Poles didn’t immediately plan to trade it, but after some detailed evaluations, it became clear that would be the best decision for his franchise. He also knew the incoming 2023 quarterback class would make a strong enough impression on other teams that they’d want to move up. Confirmation of that came around the scouting combine when discussions began heating up. Everybody knows the story from there. The Carolina Panthers came out the most aggressive, haggled with Poles for a few days, and the two sides reached an agreement. What many people may not know is the Houston Texans almost changed the entire outcome.
Albert Breer of the MMQB has strong ties to the Bears organization. He was the one Poles spoke to about trade discussions before the combine. After some digging over the past couple of weeks, the insider confirmed some surprising information.
Houston came remarkably close to making that trade instead.
“It’s tough to get a real read on what the Texans are doing at No. 2, but I’m less convinced it’ll be a quarterback than I was a month ago. If Young were to fall to them, then, yeah, I think Houston will take him. If not? It’s probably a little murkier.
The evidence I have comes down to Houston’s effort to go up to No. 1—at one point, the Texans and Bears were closing in on a deal that’d have the teams flipping spots, with Chicago then doing a deal with Carolina to drop from No. 2 to 9. Houston got a little uncomfortable with it in the end, and the Bears moved forward in doing their deal with the Panthers.”
The idea behind that maneuver was evident for the Bears. They’d get a couple of extra picks from Houston and then the sizable package they wanted from Carolina. However, Texans GM Nick Caserio got cold feet somewhere along the way. He wanted to wait and do more work on the quarterbacks. That hesitation allowed Panthers GM Scott Fitterer to close the deal, leapfrogging Houston for the #1 spot.
The Chicago Bears tried to help them correct their mistake.
Houston already blundered in the biggest way when they allowed former head coach Lovie Smith to engineer that wild win over Indianapolis in the final game last season. That victory handed Chicago the #1 pick. Then, rather than working to correct that mistake by paying an affordable price to swap places, they allowed another quarterback-needy team to jump them. Now there is a very real possibility the quarterback they covet the most will end up in a Panthers uniform. This is what happens when you’re a poorly-run organization.
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The Chicago Bears have no sympathy for them. Poles gave the Texans every opportunity to make the necessary move to get their guy. He waited until after the combine, but it was clear he didn’t want to drag things into free agency. Caserio lacked the urgency to pull the trigger. Fitterer did not. Time will tell who made the right decision. One thing is clear. Caserio’s best hope is that he still manages to find a quarterback. If he doesn’t, and the Panthers end up with the right guy, it may cost him his job.
