The Chicago Bears entered day three of the 2022 NFL draft with three picks and found a way to turn that into eight picks. It did cost a future sixth, but the rest was through the magic of the trade-down. This is a stark difference from Ryan Pace, who put Poles in this position by being so prone to trading away draft capital.
With that in mind, the entirety of the draft entering the weekend was smaller than what the Chicago Bears ended up selecting on day three. It leads to an exciting day. While they made the picks in order, some were better than others and the order did not quite matter. Who was the best value picks that the team made on day three?
8. Trenton Gill, P, NC State
7. Elijah Hicks, S, Cal
With the thought that we are going to throw the draft capital out the window, the Bears’ six other picks were in a range of about 60 picks from each other. These two picks finished off the draft very late and gave the Bears two UDFAs that they were worried about not signing.
In the case of Trenton Gill, it is pretty straightforward. The team just signed Ryan Winslow this offseason, he is not locked onto the roster, so we will have a good old-fashioned punter duel this summer.
For Elijah Hicks, he is going to be competing with DeAndre Houston-Carson and Dane Cruikshank for the last safety spot. It is hard to see him winning that duel, as these are two veterans that present special teams’ value.
Hicks is probably best suited for practice squad work, but those two safeties are signed to one-year deals, so he could step in as depth next season.