The Chicago Bears haven’t made their intentions clear for the 2024 draft yet. That is hardly surprising. Seven games remain in the regular season. They have no idea where they will end up picking next April. As of now, they hold the #1 pick in the draft courtesy of the trade with Carolina. If that status holds, many wonder if GM Ryan Poles will decide to make a change at quarterback. Most see it as a race between two big names. USC’s Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye. A large sect of fans hold out hope Justin Fields will keep the job, but recent rumblings suggest Poles is prepared to move on.
The debate between Williams and Maye remains hot and isn’t likely to fade for the next several months. Both have plenty of merit to go #1 overall. Williams has racked up ridiculous numbers for the past three seasons, showcasing his improvisational wizardry. Maye is a physical specimen with all the tools a franchise QB requires, and he’s also showcasing a clutch gene. It isn’t easy to separate the two. Bears insider Adam Jahns of The Athletic may have found one.
“One major difference at North Carolina is that Maye is surrounded by NFL experience. Clyde Christensen is a volunteer assistant. He coached Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Andrew Luck. Christensen’s involvement is viewed as a positive by evaluators. He had a conversation with Maye on the sideline after halftime.
Freddie Kitchens, the former Browns offensive coordinator and head coach, is North Carolina’s run game coordinator and tight ends coach.”
That doesn’t include Darrell Moody.
Prior to becoming a senior advisor to head coach Mack Brown at North Carolina, he’d spent 16 years as an NFL scout. He was with the Chargers when they drafted Philip Rivers. Kitchens gets derided for his tenure as a head coach in Cleveland, but he got the best season from Baker Mayfield and helped resurrect Carson Palmer’s career in Arizona. This doesn’t even include Brown himself, who put Vince Young, Colt McCoy, and Sam Howell into the NFL. All have had productive stretches over their careers.
Drake Maye is not Mitch Trubisky.
This is the core issue for many Bears fans. They can only see the North Carolina uniform and the #10 on his jersey. Immediately, they get flashbacks of the former #2 overall pick in 2017 and how he ended up flopping. In these situations, it’s important to remember one thing—Scout the player, not the helmet. Look at C.J. Stroud. He’s also an Ohio State quarterback like Justin Fields, but he’s tearing the league up. Just because Trubisky didn’t work out doesn’t mean Maye won’t. He’s a better physical talent, for one. For another, he’s also more experienced. Trubisky started 13 games in college. Maye has started 24.
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Throw in the fact that he’s being molded by men who understand what is expected in the NFL, and it’s getting easier to understand why the appeal is growing. Drake Maye has done everything asked of him over the past few months. He’s winning games, playing the position the right way, making consistently on-time and accurate throws, and staying out of trouble. He might not be the once-in-a-generation player any team would want, but the signs point to him having a bright future on Sundays.
@BearDownTX – yes. Fields is better than Stroud. Stroud currently has better coaches than Fields does, but if you’re JUST a stats watcher, you’ll follow stats. I always thought Stroud was excellent. He was better than Bryce Young and if Carolina was smart, they would have taken him. But Poles trading down and taking more options over Stroud was smart. But Poles needs to assess whether THIS coaching staff is good enough to develop players. All of the players. Stroud is throwing to players who are well coached at receiving. That’s why it works. Fields does well throwing to DJ… Read more »
I have no clue who the best QB in this coming class will be, but one thing I do know is that the Bears do NOT need Williams’ “improvisational wizardry” along with his dad who will want to run the show because his kid is the “best that ever lived”, and it’s all because of good ole dad’s guidance.
Improvisation means not running a play as designed. If the Bears draft him, 3 years down the line they will be scratching their heads still wondering what they have in their QB? Very Fieldsesque.
OMG!!! How are people still believing Fields is better than Stroud? Point to one thing that says this? He can run fast? And it’s all because of a bad coach? Wake up! The player still has to go out there and perform, and Stroud is doing this with a 1st year head coach a 1st year OC and WR’s named Nico Collins, Noah Brown, and Tank Dell. Not exactly Duper and Clayton! Hell, I think every team would trade those three guys for our 3 WR without a doubt. This is NOT coaching, this is a better QB plain and… Read more »
“Still think Fields is better than Stroud” 😂😂😂. Wow… does the nonsense ever end with this Fields narrative. If only Fields had this amazing ground breaking new world coaching that the NFL has never seen before like Stroud is getting 😂😂😂. He and Fields were coached by the same people coming into the NFL. One of them is in year 3 and still “needs more time”. The other is going into game 10 and is already a top 5 QB in the league.
Only sure fire star in Draft is Harrison. Next is OT Fashanu. Can’t waste picks.