The wheels are in motion at this point. Everybody expects the Chicago Bears to trade the #1 overall pick. It would be a bigger surprise if they didn’t. GM Ryan Poles sounds confident he can get a deal done. There are even rumblings that it may happen before the start of free agency. Demand for the pick is high. As always, it comes down to compensation. Poles believes he can secure at least a future 1st round pick in both 2024 and 2025. Or at least he said as much. It’s clear he is making it known what the price is if somebody wants to pull him out of the top five.
Apparently, there is one team ready to make that push. Insider Jeff Hughes of Da Bears Blog made quite the information dump on the Irish Bears Show. He revealed Poles hopes to get a deal done before free agency and isn’t afraid to move down far beyond the top five spots. He’s interested in accumulating as many picks as possible. When it comes to teams ready to make a deal, he mentioned one during the show and again on Twitter a few hours later. It is the Carolina Panthers
The Chicago Bears likely have two packages in mind with Carolina.
If it’s before free agency, then there is a strong possibility that the package will include a player on the Panthers’ roster. Maybe edge rusher Brian Burns or defensive tackle Derrick Brown. Either would be an immediate help on the Bears’ league-worst defensive line. Outside of that, we’re likely looking at the #9 pick, a 2nd round pick in 2023, a 1st round pick in 2024, and a 1st round pick in 2025. That is close to the package San Francisco gave up going from 12th to 3rd in 2021 for Trey Lance.
Understanding the Panthers’ perspective isn’t difficult. Owner David Tepper saw multiple failed attempts to fix the quarterback position with veterans like Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield. New head coach Frank Reich experienced the same in Indianapolis with Philip Rivers, Carson Wentz, and Matt Ryan. They’re tired of half-measures. It is time to take a serious swing. They appear to have identified somebody in this class that can fulfill that dream. Who it is doesn’t matter. They are close to giving the Chicago Bears what they want, by the sound of things.
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@Lwood one of the pundits in the video claims teams are lining up to trade for the first pick in the draft so they can select Anthony Richardson, QB at Florida, based purely on physical gifts and potential. In the history of the modern NFL, no team has drafted a QB #1 based purely on physical gifts and potential, especially one with less than 400 passing attempts, a 52% completion rate, and a 1.8/1 touch down to interception ratio. Every single #1 selection at the QB position has been a decorated and accomplished QB. You know why? Because no executive… Read more »
Brian Burns is a heckuva player but you don’t build a team around him and he doesn’t put fannies in the seats. Having a talented young QB is what gives fans hope and keeps them interested in the team. Picks are crapshoots. The Rams understood this when they traded away tons of picks but got themselves a Lombardi trophy. Yes, the cupboard is a little bare now but there’s a shiny trophy on top of it. Poles will get the capital he is asking for because it is well worth it to these teams to get their guy at the… Read more »
@PACM What does that even mean beyond yes one would want someone who has attributable Talent that backs up what the ‘tale of the tape’ is? I’ll hang up and wait for my answer.
Us Chicagon’s don’t get the top pick in the draft often, so I’ll let the speculative talk slide as just that. To be clear, no rational NFL executives are leveraging their business for a bad QB on a bad college team because he tested off the charts at the combine. The guy may become good, but the NFL is a what have you done for me lately multi-billion dollar business with owners looking for returns on their investments.