Jets' All-Pro corner can't believe that the Chicago Bears have two top 10 picks
We are just over a week away from the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft. The Chicago Bears have been on the clock since the 2023 season officially came to a close. Speculation ensued about how Ryan Poles would use the first pick in the draft. Would it be Caleb Williams? Would the Bears trade down and keep Justin Fields? Would they look at a different quarterback like Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels? The answer was probably always either Williams or Fields and it did not take long to come to the conclusion (even before Fields was traded) that Williams was the new direction.
What is even more intriguing is the fact that Chicago also has the ninth pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. The Bears owning two first-round picks within the top 10 is very important as Ryan Poles looks to continue to build through the draft. Just two years ago, Poles stripped the team down to a bare minimum of talent and started building it back up when they traded the first-overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for DJ Moore and a plethora of draft picks. One of those picks included the Panthers' 2024 first-round pick and that detail was very important.
Carolina used the first-overall pick last year to select quarterback Bryce Young. Young struggled and without having DJ Moore to throw to, the Panthers ended up with the worst record in the league. This is how the Bears landed the first overall pick two years in a row. Now, Poles is looking to build this roster up even more after trading for Montez Sweat before the trade deadline last year and then extending him through 2027. During the offseason, Poles has made some critical strikes in free agency. One of the biggest moves was trading a fourth-round pick to the Chargers for Keenan Allen.
Sauce Gardner cannot believe the Chicago Bears have two top 10 picks
Now, I'm not sure how much players pay attention to all the ins and outs of each offseason, but it makes sense for many of them to step away from it all and look to reset and refresh before the next season. Apparently, that is what Sauce Gardner has been doing these past two years. He took to Twitter today after seeing a mock draft by Rich Cimini of ESPN (he covers the Jets) and expressed his shock that the Bears, despite their talent, have two picks in the top 10.
Sauce Gardner admits that he doesn't pay attention to trades or the draft and all he does is wake up and play football. It's obvious that Ryan Poles fleeced the Panthers, but I have to wonder, based on his response, if Gardner even knows that Justin Fields was traded to Pittsburgh. We all know that Fields has earned a great amount of support and respect from players in the league, however, the only time the Jets have played Chicago while Gardner was on the roster was in 2022. Trevor Siemian was the quarterback that day and the Bears lost 31-10 with Mike White under center for the Jets.
It should be noted that Gardner has since deleted his tweet, but as we all know, that doesn't matter with how quickly social media latches onto things. Either way, it is a great time to be a Chicago Bears fan!