The one trade which could solve the Chicago Bears’ lone remaining draft problem

The most exciting offseason in Chicago Bears history (or at least in recent memory) officially got underway yesterday, with the official trade announcement that the Bears will trade down from number 1 to number 9 in a massive deal with the Carolina Panthers.

Until yesterday’s announcement, everyone was waiting to see what the Bears would do. Following the scouting combine, during which Ryan Poles officially put to bed the speculation that the Bears may move off of Justin Fields in favor of a rookie QB, everyone knew it was only a matter of time before the pick was dealt.

Now, with the pick dealt, there is clarity about which direction the organization is heading. This provides stability and a clear message to not only those within the building, including Justin Fields but also prospective free agents who will be weighing which situations match their own priorities this season and beyond.

The Chicago Bears have set themselves up to be a major player for the rest of this offseason.

Freshly armed with draft capital both in this draft and next year’s, Ryan Poles and the Chicago Bears have plenty of ammunition to continue adding players via trade and free agency. Should he choose to make draft selections, he’s pretty set up as well – with 4 picks in the top 64 next month.

However, no situation is perfect, and if there’s one flaw in the Bears’ current draft situation, it is the glaring gap between their first two selections as 46 spots separate their first pick at number 9 and their second pick at number 55.

If Ryan Poles could figure out a way to get one more pick to bridge that gap, he would have the perfect slate of draft picks to rebuild this team.

Enter: The Trade Machine.

While it would be easy to trade back from 9 far enough to grab a pick in the 25-40 range along with some extra draft capital later on or perhaps next year, it is important for Ryan Poles and the Bears to ensure they land a true top prospect near the top of this draft.

Enter: The Houston Texans.

There has been a lot of buzz about the Texans and their plans at number 2 overall. Dane Brugler notes that in his 20 years in front offices, Nick Casserio has never been a part of one which selected a QB in the top 50.

Additionally, with the security DeMeco Ryans likely has to rebuild this team and the quarterbacks coming down the pipeline in 2024, it is very possible the Texans either trade the number two overall pick or select their top non-QB prospect.

But what if a QB falls down the board?

It happened with Justin Fields – where he was universally expected to be a top 4 pick but kept inexplicably dropping down the board, eventually getting to a spot where trading up for him was too good an opportunity for Ryan Pace to pass up.

Should another QB make a similar slide down the board, getting within strike range for Houston, they could make ideal trade partners to help give the Bears a presence in the early second round.

In this trade, the Chicago Bears move down 3 spots – still within striking range for a top prospect, but are able to pick up the 33rd overall pick, one which would ensure they can select a prospect at the top of the second. Meanwhile, Houston gets to come up for their future quarterback while not losing out entirely as they move back in the 2nd round, but retain a presence in the round.

While I built this scenario entirely around a quarterback falling down the board, there could be other teams looking to come up for QBs or other prospects as well that could provide similar trade packages. The Titans own the 11th and 41st picks. The Jets own the 13th and 43rd picks. In some of these cases, the Bears may not even need to include the 61st pick to get a deal done.

All in all, whether or not they make another move, the Bears are in a prime spot to add 4 starters in the draft next month. They could choose to stand pat and use the picks they have, and that would very likely still end up fine, but if they believe there’s a pool of talent not worth missing out on, Ryan Poles would be wise to move back a little bit more and ensure he doesn’t miss out.