The Chicago Bears should pursue this former Ohio State receiver

Chicago Bears (Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports)
Chicago Bears (Mandatory Credit: Joseph Maiorana-USA TODAY Sports) /
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Chicago Bears, Jaxon Smith-Njigba
Chicago Bears (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images) /

College teammates have been flourishing together in the NFL

In the cases of the Cincinnati Bengals, Miami Dolphins, and Philadelphia Eagles, the connection between former teammates impacted these teams almost immediately. Burrow and Chase went to the Super Bowl in their first professional season together. Waddle is a top 5 receiving yardage leader this season despite having Tyreek Hill — the number one receiving yardage leader — as a teammate. Smith is on pace for 1,000 yards this season, despite being the number two receiver on a run-first team.

With this knowledge, the logical answer would be for the Chicago Bears to draft Ohio State receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba in the 2023 NFL Draft, but Smith-Njigba only played one season with Justin Fields in 2020, where he was mainly used in relief.

A bigger move for a receiver Fields relied on in college would likely take much more capital and is certainly less likely, but it is exactly the type of aggressive move the Chicago Bears could make in order to surround Fields with familiar talent.