The Chicago Bears need to modernize their approach and be methodical in the draft instead of panicking.
On Tuesday, the Chicago Bears announced that Ryan Poles would be their new general manager, meaning he will soon pick players in the NFL Draft. With cap space being an issue and limited draft capital thanks to the previous regime, it may be hard to navigate for talent, or is it? With Matt Eberflus now in the fold as head coach, the philosophies may shift in the types of players the team will be looking for.
In this mock draft, the Bears go from five picks to eleven. How can they trade down and acquire that much? Quite simple, you trade down, and you trade down in volume.
Chicago has so many holes to fill if they want to be competitive, and frankly, they need to find ways to build around Justin Fields and bring both the offense and defense into elite-level status.
The Chicago Bears emphasize quality and quantity in this 2022 NFL Mock Draft.
At this point, Chicago has several weak points alongside the offensive line and the secondary. However, free agency will likely be focused on adding another cornerback alongside Jaylon Johnson and shedding all the dead cap weight from aging veterans and other players who have probably played themselves out of Chicago (Germain Ifedi).
Above all, this is about being respectable on both sides of the ball and no more relying on dominant defense and running the ball. That can only work but so much. If you don’t have a quarterback, you can’t overcome anything. We saw what Buffalo and Kansas City gave us. Sure, their quarterbacks are better than Justin Fields, but if Fields has elite-level offensive talent around him, what’s to say he can’t be dominant himself?
In this mock draft, Poles pole vaults into high gear and snags more picks for more chances of landing young and aggressive talent for both sides of the ball. In other words, players who can help stunt Fields’ growth on offense and give him support on defense.
Free agency will undoubtedly impact how the draft goes, but with no free agency evidence yet, this is how you might see things shake out in April in Vegas.