2021 NFL Draft: Teddy Bridgewater trade helps Chicago Bears

The Chicago Bears may have seen a path into the top 10 of the 2021 NFL Draft open for them on Wednesday as the Denver Broncos acquired veteran quarterback Teddy Bridgewater from the Carolina Panthers.

After the Panther acquired Sam Darnold from the New York Jets earlier this off-season, it seemed inevitable that Bridgewater would be placed on the trade block. Despite an interest in Bridgewater last off-season, the Bears were not linked to the former New Orleans Saints quarterback this off-season.

What the Bridgewater trade does do for the Bears is create a path for them to move up into the top 10 of the first round of the 2021 NFL Draft. There has been a growing sense over the course of the past couple of weeks that the Bears could be desperate to move into the top 10 of the 2021 NFL Draft in order to select one of the top quarterback prospects. Bears’ general manager Ryan Pace did not necessarily dispel that theory as he admitted on Tuesday that he was a fan of the 2021 NFL Draft quarterback class.

Initially, there were two spots identified within the top 10 of the 2021 NFL Draft in which the Bears could target in an effort to move up. The first spot was the fourth overall selection that is currently owned by the Atlanta Falcons. With the first three selections likely being quarterbacks, the thought was that a quarterback needy team would need to jump to the fourth overall selection in order to select a quarterback ahead of teams like the Panthers with the 8th overall selection or the Broncos with the 9th overall selection.

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The issue for the Bears is that with the 20th overall selection, it seemed unlikely that they would have enough ammunition in their arsenal to acquire the fourth overall selection.

With the Panthers having acquired Sam Darnold and exercising his fifth year option, it does not seem too likely that they will select a quarterback with the 8th overall selection. That is why there was the thought that the Bears would need to, at the very least, move up to the 8th overall selection ahead of the Denver Broncos.

With the Broncos now having acquired Bridgewater, it does not make them as desperate to select a quarterback at the ninth overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft. Meaning, a quarterback needy team like the Bears could certainly look to make a move with the Broncos in order to acquire the No. 9 overall selection in the 2021 NFL Draft. A move to No. 9 overall, for the Bears, would be a much easier task than a move to No. 4 overall and still provide them with an opportunity to select one of the top five quarterback prospects.

The Chicago Bears were going to need the dominoes to fall their way in order to move up in the 2021 NFL Draft, and the Broncos acquiring Teddy Bridgewater was a major domino to fall in their favor.