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This has been a somewhat strange run up to the 2016 NFL Draft.
The class is somewhat weak on skill position talent, in fact most would say that it is much stronger on the defensive side with a top-heavy cornerback class and a deep defensive line group.
However, that hasn't stop some teams from moving up to take advantage of a somewhat weaker QB class.
After the banner year of 2012 and then the heavy hitters of Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston a year ago, this year's QB class was seen as a bit of a lesser quality crop.
That, combined with a team that took a QB at the top just 12 months ago in Tennessee, meant that suddenly QB hungry teams from deeper in the draft could and would want to move up to get their pick of potential franchise savior.
Sure enough, the Los Angeles Rams decided to make the jump and leapfrogged all the way to No. 1. The Cleveland Browns, sitting in the No. 2 spot, either decided they didn't want to get second-best choice or that the offer was too good to pass up and traded back with the Philadelphia Eagles.
Barring a huge surprise, such as one of the trading up teams absolutely LOVING Ezekiel Elliott, most pundits believe that these trades ensure that quarterbacks will go 1-2 for a second consecutive year.
The question that has been circling since then is, what affect will these moves have on the Bears' first pick?
Teams reaching for QBs is nothing new but what it does is push the top non-QB players down the board.
However, most everyone already had two QBs going in the top ten so the easy assumption is that it won't change very much.
The real wildcard though is will a third QB come off the board?
Not since 2012 have three QBs gone in the top 10 with Andrew Luck (No. 1), Robert Griffin III (No. 2) and Ryan Tannehill (No. 8) coming off the board. Before that it was just one year, when in 2011 Cam Newton went No. 1 followed by Jake Locker at No. 8 and Blaine Gabbert at No. 10.
All it takes is one team.
The 2011 might be a closer comp to this year, as Jacksonville was wanting a QB and decided not to sit by idly after seeing Newton and Locker off the board. The Jags moved up from 16th to get their QB. Retrospect would prove that this was a disastrous move but that is what QB-desperate teams do.
Both of those drafts also had a fairly large projected drop off from the third-ranked QB to the fourth ranked QB. In 2011, the fourth ranked QB was mostly considered Christian Ponder, whom the Vikings reached for just two slots after the Jags and in 2012 it was Brandon Weeden, whom Cleveland traded back into the first round for in 2012.
The thing is, is Paxton Lynch seen as substantially better than the fourth ranked QB?
Well most of the rankings I've checked say yes. In most of the big boards I've checked Carson Wentz and Jared Goff are ranked between 5th and 8th and Lynch is still in the top 30. The lists I've consulted don't have another QB in the top 50.
Does that mean a team will jump into the top 10 to make sure they get him? Perhaps and if they do, then perhaps one of the other top players will slip a little bit further down.
If nine of the top ten somehow ends up being, in some order: Wentz, Goff, Jeremy Tunsil, Elliott, Joey Bosa, Jalen Ramsey, Myles Jack, Lynch and DeForrest Buckner, then that leaves two potential top-10 rated players for Nos. 10 and 11.
At this point, it would not appear likely that these trades will have an affect on the Bears because they are just out of reach of the really top-tier players. But with one or two more trades and perhaps a reach, the Bears could benefit from teams getting greedy for a QB.