Chicago Bears Draft: First-round trades to move back and still land talent

The Chicago Bears are in a tough spot right now. Fans should not pity them, as we all know that the only person to blame is themselves. Well, part of the blame should go to a global pandemic that no one saw coming that lowered the salary cap by nearly $20 million dollars (the projected cap was going to be between $205 and $210 million prior to COVID-19).

Ryan Pace tried to build the team around Mitch Trubisky’s rookie contract. Honestly, that was not a bad idea. Build up the defense, add some playmakers like Allen Robinson and hope that Trubisky turns out to become the franchise quarterback this team desperately needs. It’s a similar makeup to how the Kansas City Chiefs are assembled. There are two very big differences though.

The first difference was that the Chiefs defense was not “as” good as the Chicago Bears defense. Instead, the team was more balanced. The offense had playmakers like Travis Kelce and Tyreek Hill. Both of these players are towards the top of the league at their position. Many would say Kelce is the top tight end and has been for some time. Having more playmakers on offense is key. The offensive line was also assembled in a better fashion than here in Chicago.

The second big difference was Patrick Mahomes turned out to be an elite quarterback. Now, I am not here to argue that Mahomes should have been the pick for the Chicago Bears at third overall. In fact, I too would have taken Trubisky over Mahomes in 2017. That said, I also would have taken Deshaun Watson with the third pick and never traded up to the No. 2 pick.

Now that Trubisky’s rookie deal has come to an end and the offense under Matt Nagy has not improved (hard to blame just the quarterback at this point no matter if you are a Trubisky truther or not). With Trubisky out the door and no backup plan by Ryan Pace, (remember when he said to draft a quarterback every year, yeah me too — what happened?) the Chicago Bears find themselves with many holes to fill.

To be honest though, if we look at the current roster, Pace has done a decent job retaining most of the players the team has assembled. The only notable name the team lost this offseason was Kyle Fuller. I know that was a tough pill to swallow, but losing him had more to do with the drop in salary cap than it did anything else. Otherwise, the defense would be running out a very similar lineup that has put them in the top 10 for the last four seasons.

I know, I know, but running back the same team is likely to just put them at 8-8 again (well now more like 9-8 or 8-9 with the new 17-game schedule). With Matt Nagy and Ryan Pace returning for another season, even if undeserved, it would make little sense to start a full rebuild unless the two are not on as hot of a seat as most fans would believe. Time will tell with that one.

That said, one way to help this team is to infuse it with some young talent. Now that Ryan Pace finally has a first-round pick and with this draft being very top-heavy and deep in certain positions, the Chicago Bears general manager should truly look to trade back unless one of the top quarterbacks starts to fall in the first round. Here are some first-round trade packages the team should consider and honestly the Bears should trade back in more than just the first round.