Chicago Bears: Trading Down in 1st Round Looking More Possible
The 2017 NFL Draft is quickly approaching, and the Chicago Bears are keeping themselves busy with numerous workouts with draft prospects. With the third-overall pick in their possession, the Bears definitely have a great chance of landing a player that can be a cornerstone of the franchise for years to come. There are so many needs for Chicago’s roster, and making a prediction of what they will do in the first round is almost impossible.
Many mock drafts have the Bears going after a defensive lineman, such as Jonathan Allen out of Alabama, or Stanford’s Solomon Thomas. Others predict that Chicago may strengthen their secondary with players like safeties Malik Hooker from Ohio State or, Jamal Adams out of LSU. Then there’s cornerback Marshon Lattimore, also from Ohio State. All of these prospects will make perfect sense for the Bears with the third pick in the first round, but the recent activity with some of the quarterback prospects has some people thinking that general manager Ryan Pace my trade down and go after a QB later in the first round.
Last month, Chicago already had a workout with Notre Dame quarterback DeShone Kizer. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune stated that the Bears made a visit to Texas Tech for a workout with quarterback Patrick Mahomes this past weekend. And now, Chase Goodbread on NFL.com reported that North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky confirmed that he had a workout with the Bears.
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Jay Cutler is out of the picture. Now, the Bears have signed two quarterbacks, Mike Glennon and Mark Sanchez, whose track records doesn’t give too many fans confidence about the future at this position. We don’t know for certain if drafting a quarterback in the first round is Chicago’s primary choice, but if it is, trading down might not be a bad idea. There is a good chance that the QBs that they are targeting will be available later in the first round. Therefore, they could get their man, and in the meantime, add more draft picks to the seven that they already have.
However, if they do have that much faith in Glennon to carry the offense over the next few years, then getting the best defensive prospect at No. 3 is exactly what they should be doing. Glennon hasn’t started an NFL game since 2014, and has had two quarterbacks (Josh McCown and Jameis Winston) step in front of him as the starter while with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. That should send a sign to Pace and the rest of the Bears’ brass.
Personally, I don’t think that the Glennon signing was great. But, it was a good one. If Glennon is the person Chicago plans on having under center over the next few seasons, then making the defense as strong as possible should be the franchise’s top priority. And who knows, someone like Mahomes may slide down to the second round, and the Bears my still get their potential “quarterback of the future.”