Mel Kiper Mock Draft 1.0 kicks off new era for Bears in 1st round

The original mock draft guru, ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., published his first 2024 NFL mock draft of the season, and it has the Chicago Bears turning the page on Justin Fields and landing a new quarterback with the first overall pick.

The 2024 draft has several first-round quarterbacks in the mix, including three — Caleb Williams, Jayden Daniels, and Drake Maye — who could be selected with the first, second, and third overall picks.

For the Bears, Kiper has USC’s Caleb Williams as the choice at No. 1.

“Are the Bears really going to pass up the chance to take the top quarterback in back-to-back draft classes?” Kiper wrote. “I just don’t see it. Last year, of course, they got a huge haul from Carolina for trading down, with this pick included in the deal. This year they have to decide whether to keep Justin Fields or trade down again, for a bounty that likely will be even bigger.”

Kiper laid out his case for Williams to the Bears, and it’s a logical two-point argument.

“Williams is a better prospect than Fields,” Kiper wrote as his first point. And, uh, it’s a good one.

I know there are many Justin Fields supporters in the Chicago Bears fanbase (heck, I’m one of them), but there’s no denying that Caleb Williams is a better NFL Draft prospect than Fields was. And now, three years into Fields’ career, we still have questions about whether he’ll ever develop into a true franchise quarterback. When questions like that remain this long into a quarterback’s tenure, and there’s an elite quarterback prospect ripe for the picking in the first round, the choice is obvious.

“Taking Williams resets the Bears” quarterback clock,” Kiper wrote as his second point, ‘which matters in an age when having a quarterback on a rookie contract means teams can build a better roster around them.”

With Williams on a rookie contract for at least the next four seasons, the Bears will continue to be kings of free agency for an extended period. It’s a rare opportunity for a nearly playoff-ready club, like the Chicago Bears, to extend their window of contention with an elite quarterback prospect on a rookie deal.

I don’t see any way Ryan Poles passes on that chance. It just wouldn’t make sense.

What does make sense is what Mel Kiper Jr. has Chicago doing with their second first-round pick, No. 9 overall. The Bears add a new pass-catcher for Caleb Williams in Washington’s Rome Odunze.

“Odunze had 92 catches for 1,640 yards and 13 touchdowns for the Huskies in 2023. He played out wide and inside — 30 of his catches came from lining up in the slot — and ran every route in the receiving tree,” Kiper wrote. “This would be tremendous value for Odunze, who is No. 5 overall on my board. He could be the 1B to DJ Moore, who had a great first season in Chicago. And with Williams throwing them the ball, the Bears” offense would be extremely dynamic.”

It feels like it’s a consensus opinion among Chicago Bears fans that the ninth pick should be an offensive weapon. A receiver like Odunze would be a no-brainer, but there’s a chance a run on pass-catchers could happen right before Poles is on the clock.

The Arizona Cardinals, Los Angeles Chargers, and New York Giants all have needs at wide receiver, and they all pick ahead of the Bears. There’s a reality in which the first three picks of the 2024 NFL Draft are quarterbacks, followed by wide receivers with the next three.

Perhaps the Bears will turn their attention to an edge rusher if all the wideouts are off the board. Maybe they’ll trade down with a team desperate for offensive tackle help. Could Brock Bowers be viewed as more receiver than tight end and make the cut for Chicago at nine?

Who knows. But we do know that the Chicago Bears will have no shortage of options to add another blue-chip player alongside Caleb Williams in the 2024 NFL Draft.