The Chicago Bears have made their decision with the first overall pick in the NFL Draft and will listen to offers, cementing their future with Justin Fields.
You wouldn’t know just by listening to Justin Fields’ offseason comments about wanting to hand the Green Bay Packers an advantage, but he and the Chicago Bears will be moving forward together for the foreseeable future.
There was a legitimate opportunity for the Bears to completely retool their roster early on in the Justin Fields experiment once the Bears landed the worst record in the 2022 season and in turn, the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
With that pick, the Bears could’ve pivoted to Bryce Young, the expected No. 1 overall pick who some think has a much higher ceiling than Fields.
Instead, according to Adam Schefter, they’ll attempt to trade the pick.
Bears intend to trade No. 1 pick according to latest NFL Draft rumors
The Bears will be parting ways with the No. 1 overall draft pick, it looks like. Adam Schefter reported early Monday morning that Chicago has already been approached by multiple teams and is leaning toward moving the pick.
It’s no shock the Bears have several offers on the table. There are a handful of teams that would love the opportunity to welcome their next franchise quarterback and a talent as impressive as Young out of Alabama. Plus, Fields has shown potential, and one would figure that the Bears would prefer to move forward with a known factor rather than an unknown, even with tremendous upside.
The Texans and Colts, drafting second and fourth, respectively, would both love to move up, one would think.
The Raiders (No. 7), Falcons (No. 8), Panthers (No. 9), Titans (No. 11), Commanders (No. 16), Buccaneers (No. 19) and Saints (No. 30) all could use a quarterback too and have an outside shot at getting the pick if they have the desire and ability to put together an enticing package with future draft picks.
Still, it’s clear the Bears aren’t completely sold on the topic. Schefter says the team is “leaning toward” moving the pick, but that’s far from being a sure thing.
If the Bears were absolutely concrete with Fields, it would be certain that they would move the pick.
That said, you can’t get full value when you outwardly let your opposing negotiators know you don’t want the item you’re trying to sell.
The Bears’ apparent lack of wholehearted commitment to Fields could very well just be external window dressing. We won’t know for sure until Chicago has officially moved the pick.
