Every fan of the Chicago Bears, including analysts, are attempting to guess what Ryan Poles is going to do at the quarterback position. Will the Bears keep Justin Fields in 2024 and beyond or will they use the first pick in the 2024 NFL Draft on a new quarterback? The most-likely prospect to be taken first overall is Caleb Williams. However, Poles might be willing to go in another direction at the position if he has high enough grades on prospects like Drake Maye, Jayden Daniels, etc.
It doesn't matter which quarterback prospect the Bears are leaning toward at this point, even though it is most likely Williams. What does matter right now is if it's going to be Fields or a new quarterback under center -- a new center --to start the season.
One telling sign that we have received about what the Bears plan to do at the quarterback position comes from a tweet dating back a year. Adam Schefter shared news on Twitter on February 27, 2023 (not 2024) about what the Bears planned on doing at the QB position last season. The tweet said that the team was leaning toward trading the first pick in the 2023 NFL Draft. That's exactly what Ryan Poles did on March 10, 2023.
Sources: The Bears already have been approached by multiple teams about trading the draft’s No. 1 overall pick, and Chicago is said to be “leaning toward” moving the pick. So the No. 1 pick now looks like it’s for sale. pic.twitter.com/2w03L6qP0L
— Adam Schefter (@AdamSchefter) February 27, 2023
Fast forward to the 2024 offseason and the Chicago Bears are in a similar situation -- they own the first-overall pick but there are still questions surrounding Justin Fields. We are now a couple of days past the exact same date that Adam Schefter tweeted out the report about the potential trade involving the pick that landed Bryce Young in Carolina. The difference this year is that there is no tweet like this from Schefter or any other major NFL insider. Everything is just speculation.
This tells us two things. First, it means that Ryan Poles believes the 2024 NFL Draft class is better than the 2023 NFL Draft class. He's right. Side note: No one saw C.J. Stroud being that good -- not even the Texans. Second, it means that Ryan Poles is more likely to be moving on from Justin Fields this season than he did last season. Fields is one year closer to needing to be paid. Although he improved as a passer, it wasn't a drastic enough improvement.
The NFL Combine is going to be a fact-finding mission. How much can Poles get for the first-overall pick? How much can he get in a Justin Fields trade? We will have a better idea of his plans as soon as the end of this week, or at latest the very start of free agency on March 13, 2024.