2024 NFL Draft prediction: Peter King expects the Chicago Bears to trade the pick

The Chicago Bears hold the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft and rather than making a selection Peter King expects they’ll trade the pick.

The Chicago Bears head to the 2024 NFL Draft and the expectation is that they will trade that pick for a huge swath of draft capital.  Longtime NFL beat writer Peter King wrote in his column this morning that he expects the Bears to trade the first overall pick.

“The Bears, at 1, should be able to get a 2022-like ransom for the pick with so many good quarterbacks in the pool. I expect GM Ryan Poles to trade the pick, but it’s too early to say that with certainty.”

The emerging theme is that the Chicago Bears will trade the first overall pick for a ransom including possibly another player like DJ Moore or a bevy of draft picks.  

The problem with this strategy is when will those players benefit Justin Fields?  Only the Arizona Cardinals have two first round picks for the 2024 NFL Draft.  They’ve already indicated that they plan to build around Kyler Murray, so they’re not going to move up to take a QB.  It’s imperative that the Chicago Bears add players that can help during the 2024 season.  If you’re trading for another first round pick in 2025, that’s not going to be enough to help the Chicago Bears in 2024.

If the Chicago Bears are in fact planning on building around Justin Fields they need to do as much as possible to help him immediately.

Also, what guarantee is there that there’s an NFL GM that will in fact make the same mistake that the Carolina Panthers made.  The Panthers traded away their best player, the player most geared towards helping Bryce  Young succeed and wound up with the worst record in the NFL.

Why would an NFL GM make that same mistake?  As much genius Ryan Poles showed in making the trade, it was equally as bad for the now fired Carolina Panthers GM Scott Fitterer.