Which prospect do the majority of 2023 mock drafts have the Chicago Bears selecting?

With the NFL free agency frenzy slowly winding down, the fury of mock draft season will soon take over football media. It’s not like 2023 mock drafts haven’t already been spreading like wildfire, but as post-free agency rosters crystallize across the league, NFL mock drafts will become a more worthwhile exercise.

The Chicago Bears signed nine players during the first week of free agency, and their moves have helped clarify their likely approach to the first round of the 2023 NFL draft. The Bears signed two linebackers, two defensive linemen, a guard, a backup quarterback, a tight end, and two running backs. Absent from that list is an edge rusher and an offensive tackle, two positions most Bears fans assumed would be priorities in the opening hours of free agency.

Now that most of the best pass rushers and offensive linemen have been signed, it’s easy to project one of those positions being the Chicago Bears’ first-round selection. According to NFL Mock Draft Database, which aggregated 77 Bears mock drafts (and counting), the masses agree that GM Ryan Poles will find his right tackle in the first round.

Ohio State’s Paris Johnson Jr. is the favorite to be the Chicago Bears’ first-round pick

The most popular selection for the Bears at No. 9 overall is Ohio State offensive tackle Paris Johnson Jr. He’s Chicago’s pick in 19.8% of mock drafts. The next closest is Northwestern offensive tackle Peter Skoronski at 15.7%. So, whether it’s Johnson or Skorkonski, football media seems to agree: slot an offensive tackle in at Chicago’s first-round selection.

Johnson seems like a safer and better pick for the Chicago Bears. He has prototype NFL offensive tackle measurables, and there’s no question he’ll play the position in the pros. Skoronski, meanwhile, has short arms, and there are a lot of NFL scouts grading him as a guard.

If Paris Johnson Jr. is the Bears’ pick, the next logical question is, what side of the offensive line will he play on? Braxton Jones played above his draft grade as a 17-week starter during his rookie season, and all indications from Halas Hall suggest he’ll be counted on as the starting left tackle in 2023 as well. Johnson has experience as a right tackle at Ohio State, but do you want a top-10 pick playing the less-premium offensive tackle role?

It won’t matter where the Chicago Bears’ first-round offensive tackle lines up. As long as the result is better pass protection for quarterback Justin Fields, it’ll be mission accomplished.