Insider Keeps Hinting Chicago Bears Near Certain To Deal #1 Pick
The Chicago Bears haven’t yet reached a point where they make a decision regarding the #1 pick. They must navigate the scouting combine, pro days, and free agency before talks are likely to begin. It comes down to two possibilities. Either they’ll keep the pick, using it on the best prospect on their board. Or they will trade it to a team searching for a quarterback. People keep trying to push the narrative of GM Ryan Poles trading Justin Fields and taking a QB at #1. Nothing to this point suggests that will happen.
There are far more signs that Chicago will find a trade suitor in the next 4-5 weeks. Benjamin Allbright is one of the more accurate insiders in the business these days. While he has come right out and said the pick is getting traded, he did drop not one but two notable hints in tweets over the past 24 hours.
Allbright made two things clear in those statements.
- Fields isn’t getting traded because the return wouldn’t justify it.
- There is definitely a market forming for the #1 pick.
This isn’t hard to envision. The veteran free agent picture is already coming into focus. Derek Carr has met with the New Orleans Saints and New York Jets. Suppose either signs him. That keeps him away from teams picking in or near the top 10. Daniel Jones is likely to get the franchise tag from New York. The same goes for Lamar Jackson in Baltimore. That leaves Aaron Rodgers. If he stays put in Green Bay or retires, it would create a potential frenzy of teams trying to move up for top quarterbacks in the draft.
The ignition point for the Chicago Bears might be the combine.
That is when the top quarterbacks will be visible to NFL teams for the first time in months. Bryce Young, Will Levis, and C.J. Stroud will go through drills and, more importantly, conduct interviews with teams. It could start the ball rolling if they make a strong impression on the right GM or head coach. All it takes is the right person to fall in love with a quarterback and they’ll do whatever it takes to get him. Ryan Pace proved it in 2017 with Mitch Trubisky. Poles, ironically, finds himself in the opposite position from back then.
The anticipation is the worst part. Chicago Bears fans keep building things up in their heads, almost to a point where no matter what Poles does, it’ll probably be criticized as the wrong move. The bottom line is he will do what he thinks is best for the Bears. If he thinks trading down is the right decision, he’ll try to make it work. As always, he will need another team involved to work a deal. There should be enough takers to generate a solid enough package to pull the trigger.