Chicago Bears Draft: First-round trades to move back and still land talent
The Chicago Bears trade back eight spots and land a top-five wide receiver
To help with some of these trade packages, I turned to the Pro Football Focus (PFF) mock draft simulator to make sure I was not making too crazy of deals. This way it kept me honest in my research and findings. I also looked at prior-year trades to ensure that the simulator was being accurate. There are a few ways the Chicago Bears could go. The first one involves staying within the first round, but moving back eight spots by trading with the New Orleans Saints.
In this situation, the New Orleans Saints moved up eight spots and took EDGE rusher, Gregory Rousseau. Rousseau is in my top five for EDGE rankings, but I did not think that was the position the Saints would make a move up for. The team was eighth in the NFL in sacks last year with Marcus Davenport and Jordan Cameron manning the two outside defensive end positions. The thing is, they say you can never have too many pass rushers.
The Chicago Bears have plenty of draft needs and honestly, I would not be opposed to moving back again here with the 28th pick. We will take a look at that in more detail later in my next mock draft. Let’s just focus on what the team can do here with the first-round trade and the third-rounder the team received in exchange. The Saints took the Chicago Bears fifth-round pick in return.
There is plenty of talent still left on the draft board. The Bears could look to take any of these offensive linemen:
- Alijah Vera-Tucker – USC
- Samuel Cosmi – Texas
- Liam Eichenberg – Notre Dame
- Alex Leatherwood – Alabama
- Jalen Mayfield – Michigan
If Ryan Pace wanted to look at other positions, the top players left to choose from in my opinion include:
- Rashod Bateman, WR – Minnesota
- Kadarius Toney, WR – Florida
- Elijah Moore, WR – Mississippi
- Asante Samuel, Jr., CB – Florida State
- Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah, ILB – Notre Dame
As you can see, plenty of talent remains. In fact, many of these players I have a first-round draft grade on. In the mock simulator, I took wide receiver, Rashod Bateman. With the Chicago Bears second-round pick (52), I took Walker Little. Little is projected to be a starting left tackle at some point in the NFL, but is coming off a lost season due to an ACL tear and COVID-19. Little could compete for a starting spot behind right tackle Germain Ifedi and move to left tackle in 2022.
Now, with the Chicago Bears third-round pick (83), Kellen Mond was the player I took. He is not the quarterback anyone wanted, but he, Jamie Newman and Davis Mills are the three guys to consider in the third round. With the extra third-round pick (Saints’ compensatory pick at 98), there are players like Jamar Johnson (S) and Aaron Banks (OG) left to choose from. Johnson would push to start in 2021 and Banks as soon as 2022. Either option would add serious talent.