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5 NFL teams that improved the most after the 2023 NFL Draft

By Sayre Bedinger

Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell, Jahmyr Gibbs from Alabama, Jack Campbell from Iowa, and general manager Brad Holmes pose during the players' introductory news conference at team headquarters in Allen Park on Friday, April 28, 2023.Lions 042823 Kd275
Detroit Lions coach Dan Campbell, Jahmyr Gibbs from Alabama, Jack Campbell from Iowa, and general manager Brad Holmes pose during the players' introductory news conference at team headquarters in Allen Park on Friday, April 28, 2023.Lions 042823 Kd275 /
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CHICAGO, ILLINOIS – APRIL 12: Newly acquired wide receiver DJ Moore of the Chicago Bears takes a video before the ceremonial first pitch of the game between the Chicago Cubs and the Seattle Mariners at Wrigley Field on April 12, 2023 in Chicago, Illinois. (Photo by Nuccio DiNuzzo/Getty Images) /

2. Chicago Bears

Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. . NFC North. Chicago Bears. 2. player. 57

Armed with the #1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft and more salary cap space than any other team heading into the 2023 offseason, it would have been a massive disappointment for the Chicago Bears to not land on this particular list.

The Bears have been as active as promised and advertised. General manager Ryan Poles has done his best to attack the team’s primary needs with a plethora of cap space to work with while also maximizing the team’s 2023 and 2024 NFL Draft capital.

He traded the #1 overall pick to the Carolina Panthers in a deal that involved not only a first-round pick in 2023, not only a first-round pick in 2024, but wide receiver DJ Moore as arguably the centerpiece of the deal. You now have a really good WR1 for Justin Fields to go out every single week and know that he can eat up targets, something he didn’t have last year.

Adding Moore to the mix was the foundation, but the Bears went out in free agency and got former Titans guard Nate Davis to upgrade the right side of the offensive line, along with eventually spending their first-round pick (10th overall) on Tennessee right tackle Darnell Wright.

Defensively, the Bears desperately needed to make some substantial upgrades, and they did just that by going after linebackers. Tremaine Edmunds and TJ Edwards, who will be impact playmakers from day one at the second level for Chicago.

They invested in the defensive front as well, signing DeMarcus Walker and Andrew Billings before using second-and third-round picks on Gervon Dexter and Zacch Pickens, two big-time athletes out of Florida and South Carolina, respectively.

Second-round pick Tyrique Stevenson joins another trio of former second-rounders in Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, and JaQuan Brisker in the secondary to give the Bears a very talented duo on the outside, an elite athlete in the nickel, and a couple of really good safeties.

When you look at this Bears roster and how Ryan Poles has been working to construct it the last couple of years, you can’t help but see a bit of inspiration from the way Nick Caserio has done things in Houston. I don’t know how quickly the Bears are going to turn it around from having the worst record in the NFL, but I think they could double their win total from a season ago.

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