It was surreal last Sunday. The Chicago Bears had two reasons to celebrate. They’d just won their fourth game in five weeks, improving their record to 7-9, while at the same time, they locked up the #1 overall pick in the 2024 NFL draft. Such information might hurt the brains of people who don’t have context. The truth was the Bears got their coveted draft resource from the Carolina Panthers courtesy of the March 10th trade last year that saw them move up for Bryce Young. The package has already yielded big results for Chicago, including wide receiver D.J. Moore and right tackle Darnell Wright.
Yet somehow, the Panthers became so bad that they also ended up handing over the #1 pick. Now, GM Ryan Poles has a golden opportunity to change the landscape of his franchise. There are two ways this can happen. Either he resets at the quarterback position, hoping to land the superstar that has eluded this organization for decades, or he can hit the rewind button and trade the pick again. If Poles believes Justin Fields’ improvement will continue, trading it is a no-brainer. The big question is what he could get. According to NFL executives who spoke to Courtney Cronin and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN, the return would be massive.
And the Bears wouldn’t have to move that far down to get it.
“Several executives agree Chicago could net more than it did in the Panthers trade, and from a prospective trade partner already picking in the top five. Those execs believe the price to get to No. 1 could be two future first-rounders on top of this year’s pick, along with a variation of a Day 2 pick and/or a premium veteran player on a manageable contract.”
The Chicago Bears could make bank and still land a blue-chip player.
That is basically what’s being said. With one week to go, there are three teams in the top five who are expected to be 100% in on drafting a quarterback. They are the Washington Commanders (#2), New England Patriots (#3), and New York Giants (#5). What they’re saying is the Bears can get two future 1st round picks from one of those teams, move down, and still be in a position to land one of the big non-QB names on the board like a Marvin Harrison Jr., Laia Laiatu, Joe Alt, Olu Fashanu, or Malik Nabers.
It comes down to which team is desperate enough to go after the guy they want. Poles already showed he knows how to identify such teams. He proved it last year with Carolina. Somebody is going to place that phone call to the Chicago Bears. It happens every year. When the time comes, Poles likely knows he’ll be able to secure a king’s ransom for the pick, setting his team up to continue stockpiling talent well into the future. It would also enable him to keep his options open at quarterback.
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