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The NFL Draft is a little over two weeks away, and we’ve already had a couple blockbuster trades from teams maneuvering up the board, with the biggest mover being the San Francisco 49ers who presumably jumped up to 3 to get their next quarterback.
The Jacksonville Jaguars have been locked in on Clemson QB Trevor Lawrence since the day they secured the top overall pick, and at number 2 overall the New York Jets seem intent on taking BYU quarterback Zach Wilson. That would leave the ‘Niners their pick of the next best signal caller, which if were to believe the buzz circulating, would be Alabama’s Mac Jones.
San Francisco hasn’t made their decision known yet, so it’s certainly possible they go with Ohio State’s Justin Fields or North Dakota State’s Trey Lance, but most analysts, and even the oddsmakers, believe it’ll be Jones.
So with quarterbacks likely going 1-2-3 that leaves the Atlanta Falcons at 4 overall in the catbird seat.
Atlanta recently reworked the contract of 35-year old Matt Ryan, which makes it seem like they’re committed to him being their quarterback for a few more years, so teams have been calling the Falcons to see what it would take to pry that 4th pick away from them.
The Chicago Bears have been in on every available QB this offseason, so it makes sense that they’ve checked in on what the Falcons would want, but the New England Patriots, the Washington Football Team, and the Denver Broncos are a few other teams that could be looking to jump up to 4 as well.
The Bears have the latest first-round pick of all those teams, so their offer would need to be even sweeter to entice Atlanta to deal with them. Also, with so many teams looking to move up, the bidding war will drive the price even higher. I’d rather the Bears not jump up without knowing who the 49ers pick, but with so many teams jockeying for position it does seem like a trade will happen before draft night.
The cost from the Bears perspective would certainly start with this years first (20th overall) plus next year’s 1st-rounder, but there’ll be other picks involved as well. With history telling us that there will be a bust or two (or three) among the group of QBs that go in the first-round this year, would you want to see the Bears move up to take their chances on one of them?