PFF Offers Interesting First-Round Trade Proposal for Bears

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Matt Eberflus all but confirmed at this week’s league owners meetings that they have no intention of trading out of the ninth overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. But armed with only four picks, Poles could decide the best way to accumulate more draft capital is to entertain offers to slide down in Round 1.

One of those offers could come via the New Orleans Saints, as Pro Football Focus’ Brad Spielberger suggested in a recent breakdown of six potential first-round trades.

In this hypothetical, the Chicago Bears trade the ninth and 75th picks to the Saints for picks 14, 45, and 168.

It’s an interesting yet uninspiring trade package. Sure, Chicago adds a solid second-round pick and comes away with three of the top 50 players in the class, but the slide from No. 9 to 14 will result in a much different caliber of prospect in the first round.

As it currently stands, the Bears have an outside chance at landing Rome Odunze (WR, Washington) or Malik Nabers (WR, LSU) with the ninth pick. If both of them get selected before Chicago is on the clock, there’d be a good chance Notre Dame tackle Joe Alt slides. And he’d be a home run, too. Assuming all three blue-chip offensive prospects are gone, the Chicago Bears would have their pick of the top defensive player in the class. At the very least, they’ll have their pick of the top edge rusher.

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That won’t be the case at No. 14. There’s no chance Chicago would be in position to land one of the top wide receivers, and if the Saints move up for an offensive tackle, the Bears will be left with (most likely) the second-best edge rusher in the 2024 NFL Draft class. Not great.

At some point, the Bears just have to add good players. They can add two of the top 10 in this year’s draft. Barring a too-good-to-be-true offer, I don’t see any way Ryan Poles passes up a chance to power up this roster with those top two picks.