Could Ryan Poles be traded at No. 9?

The 2023 NFL season is now in the books and as they sayThe Chicago Bears are “on time” with their No. 1 draft pick.

Can Caleb Williams or another quarterback in this draft class one day lead the Bears to the top of the mountain where Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs reside? Brad Biggs starts his weekly Bears mailbag there.

Does Patrick Mahomes’ play in the Super Bowl reinforce the idea of ​​Caleb Williams building around Justin Fields? A good QB makes up for many deficiencies in other areas. — @death01701

I don’t see any big takeaways. Chiefs’ 25-22 overtime win in Super Bowl LVIII It’s something Ryan Poles and the Bears can use as a guide for offseason moves. The Poles didn’t need to watch Mahomes complete 34 of 46 passes for 333 yards, including the game-winning touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman, to fully understand what he brings to the Kansas City offense. Poles was a veteran member of the Chiefs front office for the first five seasons of Mahomes’ career. You don’t need to watch the Super Bowl to understand how an elite quarterback elevates the level of play of those around him. Bears fans have been seeing this for years With Aaron Rodgers at the controls For the Green Bay Packers.

It’s unlikely the Bears have already decided on Williams as the player they’ll select with the No. 1 pick. The process is just getting started and the monitoring team won’t start until February 26. What reinforces the need to appeal to the quarterback (either Williams or whoever the Bears put at the top of the board) must be the team’s long struggles to throw the football to last down. three seasons. The Bears rank in the bottom third of the league in nearly every major passing metric. That’s what tells you They need to make a move in the positionNot being able to see Mahomes direct another magical move on the sport’s biggest stage.

If the Bears draft Caleb Williams with the No. 1 overall pick, how likely do you think it would be for them to use the top three or four picks to select Marvin Harrison Jr.? It would be eerily similar to what the Texans did last year with CJ Stroud and Will Anderson. — @keca_kyle

I won’t rule anything out, but it seems unlikely. Moving from 9th to the top four will come at a big price. After drafting Stroud with the second overall pick last year, the Texans traded the Arizona Cardinals the Nos. 12 and 33 picks in 2023, as well as their first and third-round picks in 2024, for the No. 3 pick (used to select Anderson) and the fourth pick. -round (No. 105) in 2023.

It’s safe to say that in order for the Bears to move into the top four at No. 9, they’ll need to trade away their 2025 first-round picks and probably a little more. The price could be higher if there is a solid group of point guards in this draft. I believe it would be difficult to bundle quarterback Justin Fields in a trade because he wouldn’t be worth much when you consider he has one year left on his contract before his fifth-year option. It will end on May 3.

I don’t believe the difference between Harrison and Washington’s Rome Odunze and LSU’s Malik Nabers would make sense for the Bears to explore that type of trade. If the Bears are eager to add a wide receiver, it’s possible one of the other two wide receivers could end up on the board at No. 9. They definitely could have waited until after No. 4 to consider trading for one of them.

Caleb Williams’ odds of being drafted appear to be _____. Coaching changes _____. We cover 4 important issues of the Chicago Bears.

Can anyone compare Caleb Williams’ college stats to Justin Fields’ and explain why Caleb dunks so much on Justin? — @cassius_gregory

No one objectively analyzing the Bears’ quarterback decision is fixating on college statistics.

Let’s look at the last two college seasons of a quarterback who was recently drafted in the first round:

• 209-of-373 (56.0%), 3,203 yards, 28 TDs, 15 INTs
• 152 of 270 (56.3%), 1,812 yards, 16 TDs, 6 INTs

If you focus too much on those stats, you’ll probably be rejected by Wyoming’s Josh Allen. Fields’ college statistics don’t mean much to the Bears or other NFL teams. He has three years of NFL tape to evaluate.

Fields played with outstanding players at Ohio State What Williams has at USCespecially last season’s squad. I would stay out of the weeds, which is exactly where you are when you look at college numbers.

I hear JJ McCarthy is on air for the #1 pick. Scouts and evaluators loved him, and now he’s becoming more available to draft experts. Have you heard anything about this? — @themaxconnor1

There has been good buzz about McCarthy since the start of the college season, and that’s nothing new. That’s why I prioritized We move on to Ann Arbor, Michigan, To see McCarthy play during the Bears season. I was there for the victory against Ohio State and tried to catch what NFL evaluators thought of him at the time.

NFL evaluators praise JJ McCarthy’s ‘incredible intelligence’. Would the Chicago Bears target Michigan QB and local product?

It was a bit disappointing that the Wolverines didn’t get more shots, but there’s a lot to like about McCarthy. Scouts praised his being the winner. He’s coming along well with good mobility and a quick release, and coach Jim Harbaugh has had people I know rave about him.

We’re still very early in the process, and I’m confident the Bears are doing their due diligence on McCarthy as well. caleb williams, Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels and even Bo Nix. Long term, I wonder if McCarthy is viewed as a talented shooter with timing and rhythm who could thrive in Sean Payton’s preferred offense with the Denver Broncos.

Do you really see the Bears drafting Justin Fields in the first round? Even though they added a last-round pick? — @colekmetfanclub

It seems unlikely that the Bears will get a first-round pick in exchange for Fields. The only way I can foresee this is if a team decides it would be a good idea to pick up Fields’ fifth-year option after acquiring him, and even then that seems like too high a price tag.

For Bears GM Ryan Poles, it’s about creating a market, or the illusion of a market, for Fields. He needs to convince an interested team that he is bidding against another team, whether that is the case or not. This probably happens much more often than you believe. Poles would be the envy of the league if he could acquire a first-round pick for Fields.

If the Bears only had the 9th pick in the draft, would there be any talk of them using the 1st pick to take a QB? —David E.

There will undoubtedly be conversations about the possibility of moving up to No. 1 or at least moving into the top three or four to land a quarterback. There would also be conversations about which playmakers could be available at No. 9. The Bears are in a unique position with their own ninth pick and the No. 1 pick via the Carolina Panthers. That’s what makes this a pivotal offseason for Ryan Poles and the organization.

Considering Saquon Barkley is talented as both a runner and receiver, wouldn’t it make perfect sense for the Bears in free agency? —Jimmy N., Bensenville

Barkley is a good receiver out of the backfield, but he’s not in the class of Christian McCaffery or Jahmyr Gibbs. I’ve been pretty clear that teams need to be really careful about spending large amounts of money (and cap space) on a running back in a passing league.

I was a little surprised that the Bears made a strong offer to keep David Montgomery from leaving for the Detroit Lions in free agency last year. They were right there when Montgomery selected a three-year, $18 million offer from the Lions. You could argue that’s not a lot of money, but let’s look at the Los Angeles Rams last season. Kyren Williams ranked third in the league with 1,144 yards (5.0 yard average). He was a fifth-round pick in 2022 and signed a four-year, $3.97 million contract.

Check out this chart One of the primary running backs on teams that won the Super Bowl until 2009. You can win with “one man” at running back, and teams have done that time and time again.

Here are the starting RB + cap percentage of every team that has won the Super Bowl since 2009 pic.twitter.com/ZOhihtHAEp

— Marcus Mosher (@Marcus_Mosher) February 12, 2024

I’d be much more interested in what the Bears do at WR2 and TE2 (not to mention QB1) than how they try to shore up a running back group that currently includes Khalil Herbert and Roschon Johnson.

Let’s say the Bears fall for Joe Alt or Olu Fashanu, one of them falls, and they move them to the 9th pick. What will the plan be with Braxton Jones? Too valuable to be a swing tackle? Don’t you think you can get in? What value could it have as a commercial piece? — @therealphedog

It’s certainly possible the Bears will consider left tackle with their second pick in the first round. All else equal, I think they’re leaning towards wide receiver at this point, but I don’t believe it at this early stage. I think the Bears are confident on defense with Teven Jenkins and expect a rebound season from Nate Davis.

It wouldn’t make sense to me to trade Jones, who is in the third year of his four-year rookie contract. It’s never a good idea to trade quality offensive players. In this scenario, it would stand out as a swing set.

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Should the Bears try to find a center in free agency, or do you think a rookie could handle that? — @earl6868

If the Bears believe they have the right guy, a rookie can get the job done with a rookie quarterback; He has someone who is mature, experienced and understanding enough to take on the responsibilities of being a traffic police officer on the offensive line. Many factors will play a role in this decision. You should think of free agency and the draft as separate entities, but as pieces of a larger offseason puzzle. In the end, you want the pieces from each street to fit together nicely.

The Bears can’t fill every need in the draft with a starting-caliber player. Therefore, they will need to be selective in comparing the options at each position in free agency to the options that may be available in various rounds of the draft. They don’t currently have a second-round pick, and that would be prime territory to land a starting-caliber center. If they can acquire a second-round pick by trading for quarterback Justin Fields, it would open up a new realm of possibilities. Without a second-rounder, they are more likely to head to free agency for a center.

I’m getting ahead of myself, but since the 17th opponent on the NFL schedule is determined by the finish of the AFC opponent, how will 2025 be determined? In 2021, it was the AFC West and the Bears went to Las Vegas. Will 2025 be the AFC West again? – @beej2991

To my knowledge, nothing has been finalized regarding the 2025 schedule, but I believe the Bears will play an away game against the respective finisher in the AFC West that season. The team hosted the Houston Texans in 2022, visited the Cleveland Browns last season and will host the New England Patriots in its 17th game in 2024. Don’t get me started on that though.