Peter King shocked the NFL world in two ways this week. The first was by announcing his retirement, ending one of the most decorated careers a football reporter has ever had. Then, right near the end of the column, he dropped a bombshell. He indicated there were growing whispers the Chicago Bears might trade the #1 overall pick again, hoping to stockpile a massive amount of draft assets. This would mean they plan to keep Justin Fields for another year, building the roster around him.
A lot of people were reluctant to buy this report. After all, several national insiders, including Adam Schefter and Ian Rapoport have indicated all the signs to this point say the Bears will trade Fields and select a quarterback at #1. That quarterback will likely be Caleb Williams. King is the first notable name to run counter to that trend. Is he stirring up drama for nothing? Fellow longtime analyst and insider Dan Patrick doesn’t think so. He talked about the report on his show this week. Having known King for years, Patrick believes there is no way the reporter would write something like that unless he were hearing something legitimate.
Dan Patrick has been around for a long time.
He knows which people to trust in situations like this. King is not the type of guy to put something like that out there without a good reason. He’s hearing something and has enough credible sources around the league to believe there are some legs to it. Let’s remember who is running this show. GM Ryan Poles has already proven multiple times over the past two years that he understands how to manipulate the media to his advantage. He proved that last year when he had everybody thinking he’d take Jalen Carter if the defensive tackle fell to #9. Then he traded #9 to Philadelphia for #10 and a 4th round pick. A year prior, the running belief was he’d target a wide receiver and center with his first two picks. The Bears drafted two defensive backs.
It is time to start thinking that maybe this overwhelming narrative of Chicago planning to trade Fields and select Williams is exactly what Poles wants everybody to think. Such an approach would give him maximum leverage in any trade discussions. Maybe King ends up wrong, but the fact Dan Patrick trusts him on something like this is worth noting. A lot of clarity should come in the next couple of days at the scouting combine.
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Scooby,
Peter King in a bikini? He does have great tits.
You don’t need to hear it from an “expert” because it’s always been on the table. Poles has a measly 6 total picks. Simply not enough in this draft. A Wash trade could net him a ’25 1st and ’24 2nd for a player who would rather be in Wash. A qb reset could get him a ’24 2nd and maybe a ’25 3rd. A trade from #2 to #3 or #4 gets him a ’24 3rd and a future. He’s sitting at #4 with 2 1st, 2 2nd, 2 3rd and 2 4th with CW, Maye and Harrison off… Read more »
Dan doesn’t really agree with King. He mentioned what King said but then followed that up with “I have a hard time seeing Chicago sticking with Fields and passing up on the QBs for a second year. They will have to pay Fields $50M a year and I don’t see him staying healthy by the way he plays”.
I hate to be the bearer of bad news but, more likely than not, the rumor mill is going to churn until Thursday April 25th 8-ish pm E.T. because that is the only way Poles extracts maximum value for whatever he decides to do, trade Fields or trade #1 pick.
Unless Washington, urged by Irving, Magic, Johnson decides to go all in on CW in advance a-la Carolina last year.
Thirdly, King shocked the world when he announced he would be the SI swimsuit model for July. Peter in Peru.