ESPN Mock Draft: Bears trade out of No. 1, land elite defensive lineman

The NFL Mock Draft circuit is about to kick into overdrive. The NFL Combine is a few weeks away, and with it comes more clarity on the 2023 NFL Draft class. Some prospects will rise, others will tumble. And 2023 mock drafts will evolve along the way.

ESPN published a new two-round mock draft this week, and it continued an expected theme at the top of round one. The Chicago Bears trade out of the No. 1 overall pick with the Indianapolis Colts, who jump up to select Alabama quarterback Bryce Young. The Bears received quite a haul for the slide down to No. 4 overall. Chicago receives the Nos. 4 and 35 picks, a fourth-rounder, and a 2024 third-rounder.

Some Bears fans may be unhappy with a trade that doesn’t include a first-round pick in 2024, but Chicago may have difficulty drawing that kind of a return because of the league-wide understanding that GM Ryan Poles isn’t targeting a quarterback with the first pick. We’ll see.

Jalen Carter is the obvious choice if the Bears trade back

As far as who the Bears take at No. 4? The choice was pretty straightforward, according to ESPN’s Matt Miller.

“The Bears traded back in this scenario but still are in position to select perhaps the top prospect in the class. In Matt Eberflus” defense, the 3-technique pass-rusher is crucial, and Carter is a Fletcher Cox-like difference-maker there,” Miller wrote. “He played in a rotation in 2021 and had an injury-plagued 2022, so we didn’t see him post great stat totals (just six career sacks). When watching the historically talented Georgia defense over the past two years, however, he was the most talented of the bunch.

‘Carter’s burst off the snap has the potential to be great, and he already displays an understanding of leverage, space and timing when unleashing spin and rip moves. He should enter the NFL as a high-end starter at the position on which Eberflus” defense hinges.”