The Chicago Bears are sitting in a prime position holding two top-10 picks in the 2024 NFL draft, where they’ll be able to land some top players to their talented, ascending roster.
While it’ll come as no surprise when the Bears draft quarterback Caleb Williams at first overall, there’s more mystery sounding the ninth overall selection, where there will be plenty of options.
General manager Ryan Poles mentioned three specific position groups when talking about options at No. 9 — offensive tackle, wide receiver and defensive end. Regardless of how the board falls, a top prospect at any of those given positions should be available for Chicago.
“I like the numbers,” Poles said at the NFL owners meetings. “I talked about it when I first got here, but we have different tiers on our draft board. I like the numbers in terms of the talented players that can get to 9.
“We’re gonna do some cool things when we get back (to Halas Hall), kind of break into teams. One team is going to talk about ‘the tackle position is the best to go after,’ ‘the wide receiver’s the best,’ ‘the defensive end’s the best’ — and use factual information to kind of spit that out. And we’ll have a debate in terms of what’s more impactful for our football team, short term and long term. I’m looking forward to that.”
When head coach Matt Eberflus met with the media Tuesday morning at the owners meetings, he reiterated as much. He said they’ll target players that either help the quarterback or affect the quarterback at ninth overall.
#Bears HC Matt Eberflus is addressing the media. In addition to the top pick, the Bears have the #9 pick, in a draft where the first 8 players may be offensive positions. Coach Eberflus said that the Bears will focus on players that either help the Quarterback or affect the… pic.twitter.com/V4GgBbcUtA
— Herb Howard (@HerbHoward411) March 26, 2024
With four quarterbacks projected to go in the top five, there’s a good chance the Bears could have their pick between a top wide receiver, edge rusher or offensive tackle at No. 9. That could includes players like Rome Odunze, Malik Nabers, Dallas Turner, Jared Verse and Joe Alt.
While it sounds like Chicago is set on landing two top prospects in the top 10, they could also elect to trade back — if the price is right. They currently have just four draft selections, so you know Poles will attempt to trade back at some point.
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