How the Chicago Bears trading for this position sets up the perfect 2023 NFL Draft
This Chicago Bears offseason has been a fascinating one, to say the least. The first domino to fall was the Texans' last game of the season drama. This resulted in the Bears being gifted the first pick in the draft by Lovie Smith. Then two months later, Ryan Poles took the bold but smart move to trade down to the Panthers' 9th pick in the draft. This trade was rich with booty but its main acquisition is giving Justin Fields a very much-needed WR1 in D.J. Moore.
This trade solved Poles' thorniest problem of this special offseason. That being how to snag Justin Fields his biggest need without giving up too much in trade or by having to use a high draft pick that could be used to fill one of the other glaring holes in their starting lineup. So now the Bears are in a very good position to maximize the growth of their QB1 in his critical third year of development.
Despite the addition of D.J. Moore, the Bears' offseason is still quite a complicated state of affairs. The reason is they still have three to four, maybe even five, key starting jobs they still need to fill. If the Chicago Bears did not acquire D.J. Moore in this trade, the magnitude of complexity to fix every important need would be comparable to climbing a very steep treacherous mountain.
Can the Chicago Bears make another important trade this offseason?
The best news is that Justin Fields needed a genuinely dependable, true WR1 and now he has one. This should be particularly, heartwarming to Bears fans for this reason. Rookie wideouts even first-rounders, typically struggle to play at or near their highest capacity when making the jump from college to the pros. If the Bears did not land D.J. Moore their best move was not to draft a wideout in the first round. It would have been to try and find a trade for a proven and dependable WR1.
My top choice for this wide receiver was Chris Godwin of the Bucs. However, the cost of making this trade happen would have very much cut into the Chicago Bears acquiring other key pieces they need to add to their roster. This brings us to the main point of this piece. Similar to trading for D.J. Moore, the Bears' next best big move to make is for them to trade for a good to very good 3-technique defensive lineman.