When Bears general manager Ryan Poles traded the No. 1 overall pick to the Panthers before the start of free agency last month, the move was almost universally lauded throughout the NFL.
Poles acquired an impressive haul by any standard: a first-round pick (No. 9 overall) and a second-round pick (No. 61) in the draft this year; a first-round pick in 2024; a second-round pick in 2025; and D.J. Moore, a three-time 1,000-yard receiver at age 26.
The acquisition of Moore was the clincher to a deal that looked like a masterstroke. While Moore isn’t statistically in the Davante Adams/Justin Jefferson/Stefon Diggs class, he’s a proven No. 1 receiver the Bears don’t have. Of the Bears’ biggest offseason holes — defensive end, defensive tackle, offensive tackle and No. 1 receiver — Poles filled the one he was least likely to fill in free agency or with any certainty in the draft. That’s a deft move with quarterback Justin Fields arguably in a make-or-break year of development.
And, as a bonus, acquiring Moore also left the Panthers without a proven No. 1 receiver for their presumed rookie quarterback, increasing the possibility — at the time, at least — that the 2024 first-round pick Poles acquired in the deal also might be in the top 10.
The only real question about the deal Poles made was the timing. Even considering how much he received, did he strike too soon? With the NFL’s desperate thirst for franchise quarterbacks, would the ensuing draft process have created an even greater frenzy as the draft neared? Could Poles have gotten more if he had been more patient?
There’s no definitive answer to those questions. This quarterback class — which is considered good but not great, with better prospects available next year in USC’s Caleb Williams and North Carolina’s Drake Maye — has stayed strong through the process.
Alabama’s Bryce Young, Ohio State’s C.J. Stroud and Florida’s Anthony Richardson are expected to go among the top four in most mock drafts. And Kentucky’s Will Levis is expected to go anywhere from No. 2 to No. 19.
But the quarterback-needy teams have played it pretty close to the vest, and even well-connected draft analysts are in the dark. Daniel Jeremiah, a former NFL scout with NFL Network who has been a pretty astute draft analyst in recent years, acknowledged as much in the opening comments of his predraft teleconference last week.
‘‘I have no feel on these quarterbacks, where they end up going, which is going to make for a fun Thursday night,’’ Jeremiah said. ‘‘We have five intriguing quarterbacks to sort through, and there’s all sorts of information out there. It’s tough to try and decipher all that, but it’s going to make for a fun night, not knowing what’s going to ultimately happen with these quarterbacks.’’
More than likely, Poles won’t regret moving early on the trade. It’s possible he could have gotten more for the pick — perhaps the Panthers’ earlier second-round pick (No. 39) instead of their later one (No. 61). But with the haul Poles received, it wasn’t worth the risk of getting less. And Moore as a plug-and-play, NFL-proven weapon for Fields remains a deal-clinching acquisition.
‘‘You never know how it’s going to shake out once everybody does all their homework and gets to the finish line on the quarterback evaluations,’’ Jeremiah said. ‘‘It feels like — and the teams I’ve talked to — there’s a clear No. 1 [Young]. When that happens, you end up getting a pretty good price.
‘‘[But] that being said, with the haul they got, when you include the player they got in D.J. Moore, I don’t know that they would have been able to do better. I think that was smart on [Poles’] part. He got the deal he liked. He was comfortable with it. And he wasn’t going to wait to see if there was anything better out there and maybe miss out on that opportunity.
‘‘So I thought it was smart to go to [No. 9]. It made the most sense. I love the return they got. And the crazy thing about it is . . . they might be sitting there with more quarterbacks on the board when they pick and might be faced with another opportunity to add more picks [via trade]. I really thought that was the smart move that they made.’’
