New 2024 mock draft offers ridiculous trade scenario for Chicago Bears

We’re at the point in the 2024 NFL Draft season that mock drafts and projected trades are getting… ridiculous.

The latest 2024 mock draft from Pro Football Focus is evidence of this phenomenon.

PFF has the Chicago Bears trading the ninth overall pick to the division rival Minnesota Vikings for the 11th and 108th picks, allowing the Vikings to select UNC quarterback Drake Maye.

A few notes about this pick. First, I don’t see any scenario in which Maye slides to the ninth pick. His tumble down the first round feels very media-driven. I have a hunch NFL war rooms still view him as a top-five guy, and if he slides outside the first three picks, a quarterback-needy team will do whatever’s necessary to trade with the Arizona Cardinals (No. 4) or Los Angeles Chargers (No. 5) to select him.

The ninth pick? No chance.

Second, even if Maye does slide that far, Bears GM Ryan Poles would never deal his rights to the Vikings for, essentially, a fourth-round pick. Maybe he’d do a trade like that with the Denver Broncos, who pick one spot behind Minnesota at No. 12. But to a division rival? No. Chance.

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As for who the Chicago Bears pick in PFF’s mock? Caleb Williams (QB, USC) is the first pick, and Rome Odunze (WR, Washington) is the choice at No. 11.

Is there a reality in which Odunze could fall to the 11th pick? Again, I don’t see it.

As big of a fan as I am of Pro Football Focus, this mock draft misses the mark on many levels. I appreciate the creativity and the attempt to offer a different perspective on what could happen on draft weekend, but Drake Maye ending up a Viking because of a Bears trade is just… absurd.

Then again, who knows? The NFL Draft is an inexact science, and there are a lot of smart people inside PFF’s headquarters. Nothing is impossible.

The 2024 NFL Draft will begin with the first round on April 25, followed by the second and third rounds on April 26, and the final four rounds (4-7) on April 27.