There is absolutely nothing to be gained by moving up in this draft, not from the 4 spot. If there was a generational talent there, maybe, but there isn't.

In fact, I'd be willing to trade down 3-4 spots if someone offered up a nice enough bounty.

If there is an obvious generational talent there you wouldn’t be able to swing the trade. That’s the issue - you aren’t going to trade up for a Manning or Luck level obvious talent. So you trust your scouts and evaluations. If you believe there is a franchise guy there you go get him. If you don’t or you have all 3 rated similarly you stay where you are. If you hate all three then you trade down - but you better find a QB of the future this off season. This “luck” into a QB while building a team is BS and has been BS since day one. You don’t fucking plan to “luck” into something- especially the most important and most sought after position in sports. Do your fucking homework, make a decision and be aggressive. If it fails, it fails. What they’ve been doing was damn near guaranteed to fail and has. It’s also creating a shit load of apathy and distrust in the fan base.

I'm waiting for it. Heads will EXPLODE.

Not so sure about that. You are correct that moving up mostly does not work. If you know how to evaluate though it can, look at Mahones and KC. Problem is I don't think most of us trust the people making the decisions.

Mock has us going up to # 1 to get Young.
https://www.pff.com/news/draft-2023-...de-bryce-young

If so, it's going to be a 10 year slog of complete shit. Dude has wonderful accuracy and is apparently a top notch man. His offensive line is ass. He will make some plays in year 1 that will remind us of Michael Vick and we'll be excited for year 2. Year 2 he will begin to have injury issues and by year 3 will be David Carr / Robert Griffin, so shell shocked and broken inside that by year 5, will be wearing a blazer with a mic in his hand calling our games instead of playing in them.

Man Irsay CANNOT go this route!

How did he do or how did Ohio State do? Ohio State did terribly because their run defense broke at the end of the game. Stroud did fine, threw for 349 and 2 TDs on 65% passing. Also had 2 INTs, but both of those were after the game was out of reach and he was trying to hero ball them back into it. Again, not really much of an argument here.

I wouldn't go up to 1 for Young, but I would for Stroud.

Look if we end up with Stroud I’m not gonna be upset believe that… the most important in all of this may be coach/ OC. Levis just screams Irsay/Ballard type of guy. I guess will see but if it’s up to Irsay he’ll be drafting Levis

Hopefully Irsay will delegate to his smarter football people then, who will trade up for Stroud.

Unless those involved feel like Levis at 4 is just fine, how pissed will you be when they trade up to 1 and draft Levis?

I wouldn't move to 1 for either of them, just don't think they are worth the likely compensation. That said, I can at least legitimatize the move for Stroud, no way in hell on Young.

I don’t love Bryce Young but I like him significantly more than Stroud/Levis. I’d trade what it takes to get #1 overall and bring in Harbaugh and hope for the best.

That Mock draft makes no sense to me. I hope it is wrong! The only thing that might be right is the Texans taking Levis with the #2 pick. I still think there is a good chance they take Levis with the #2 even if Young is still on the board....only reason for the Colts to trade up to #1 is to get Levis!

Listen to JMV he had Holder on and he said Ballard definitely has a big ten bias and a lot of connections in the big ten so he could definitely see Ballard wanting Stroud. Also said he and the Bears GM are good friends so a move up is very plausible

Agree. I don't see Stroud falling all the way to 7.

So if Duggan lights up “the best defense “ does that discount Strouds performance or make you want to draft him now?

Well, guess we don't have to worry about that anymore.

65-7!!!!! Damn.

I think it's pretty clear what the answer to this is.

I like Bryce Young, but if he's 6'0" then Andrew Luck was 7'0". I watched Young's bowl game, saw him next to a WR who was listed on Alabama's athletics website as 6'0", and Young was noticeably shorter. If he measures well at the combine, I'd have him basically even with Stroud, but I need to see that he's not 5'7" 180 first.

o


In a sense, boxing is more humane than football because the referee can stop the fight.

o

Yea after tonight it definitely made Strouds performance more impressive

If he could have a Russell Wilson like career, I’d certainly take it.

Stroud’s lack of ability to be mobile/stand under pressure/deal with less than ideal weapons scares me.

There are no QBs in this years' draft that have the pedigree of a Peyton Manning or Andrew Luck or Trevor Lawrence. You could trade up, pick one and it's the other possible #1 that has a great career. Trade up if you're certain, stay where you are if you're not. I don't know what Ballard is thinking, but if I were the one making the decision, I'd stay at #4 and see what happens.

I tend to agree. What we can trust is that Ballard is going to do everything within his power and his scouting teams power to get this one right. Literally leave no rock unturned on any 3 of the QBs at the top.
This is why I doubt we see any sort of trade until after the combine and pro-days. No doubt, a lot of the overall evaluation of each player will come down to their interviews, wonderlic, private workouts and pro day showings.
There is going to be some differences....Young could have the fastest 40, but Levis may test off the charts in measurables and interview.
After this process and only after will we know how Ballard feels about the pick by his action or inaction. If he trades for #1 then he obviously loves one guy over the others. If he makes a smaller trade up to #3, I would imagine that he likes two of the three guys at the top. If he stands pat, I think he grades them about equally and will take whoever is left (or even trade that pick for a boatload, double down on next year and get someone like AR15 or Hooker, Bennett, etc)
I think a small trade up to 3 makes the most sense and protects us from losing out on all 3 guys if other teams feel inclined to trade into the top 3.
We just have to trust that our scouting team is good at what they do. If they make a trade for the #1 pick it will cost a ton (hoping it wont be all picks and includes a player or two of ours), but it also means that we feel very strongly about the player we take and he jumps out on film, Aced all the aforementioned testing.

Interesting discussion on 1st Take.

Apparently Chicago has interest in Young (why you would just come off a season where your arrow seems to be pointing up behind the greatest running performance ever by a big fast powerful QB who has a cannon but nothing to really work with in the WR department and look to transform behind an undersized guy in the pocket...?). So the discussion was staying at 1 and taking Young, but getting Colts # 4 and some other parts - probably Buckner and something else + additional draft picks for Fields.

It's interesting for discussion. I am convinced that our OL is so damn bad that at least for the next couple years we're going to have to have a QB that can utilize his legs to give us any chance at being competitive (and I still expect us to suck). But, let's say we get Fields, what does he get us to, maybe 8-9, 9-8 and a possible one and done, maybe get lucky and steal a PO game in the next 3 years? Is that worth it, will he be dead on his feet 3 years from now and we'll need a new guy already anyway just when our other younger guys are starting to peak?

I like Fields, I think with a good team around him, he can be at the low end of the Josh Allen register- but I think he needs a lot of good players around him and if he has another terrible OL like he has had in Chicago (which we are), he'll eventually be wasted potential.

There is no way I see the Colts making that trade. Fields completion percentage was near the bottom, only Zach Wilson was lower. His QB rating was 25th in the league. Also, Buckner is one of the best at his position. Sure Fields can run, but running QBs have a short life span.

If I were the Bears organization, I would be saying the same thing whether I wanted Young or not for obvious reasons.

Fields isn't worth the #4 pick. To move up to #1 will take two ones and probably two twos. It is a crap shoot anyway so I am definitely against it. Colts will give Derek Carr a long look, he is an above average QB which would be a huge upgrade from what we have been dealing with. Nothing excites me.

Hell no on Derek Carr, just hell no. I would rather take a chance on Young, Stroud or Levis. Hopefully the Colts have learned their lesson on taking other team's QB rejects.

I agree with you on this but still believe they will look at Carr. A whole lot depends on who is our new head coach-I am more concerned about Ballard choosing this than a QB. Ballard totally shit the bed with McDaniels, and I mean totally. I have zero faith that he can pick a winner.

Talk on radio on Dakich former spot is that it's basically a given, we're giving Chicago whatever they want and the pick is Young. I am just perplexed as to why?

He's a Bama QB which given their performance in the NFL over the last 20 yrs minus Hurts- who don't forget left there, should automatically disqualify from #1. Yes, they have remarkable college careers, they also have NFL Olinemen and what has clearly become WR U with WR after WR lighting up the NFL. His size, he's smaller than Baker. No man, no freakin' way do we do this!

Tanenbaum is now touting this Bears moving Fields to get Young.

What is the fascination with him?

Agreed. That said, in terms of those three options, after staying pat and taking one of the three I would rather sign Carr and pick a blue chip prospect with the #4 pick than trade the #4 (not to mention possibly trading other assets) for Justin Fields. That seems like the worst of all worlds.

I would possibly consider our 2nd round pick and (Don't call me Darius) Leonard for Fields? I might be tempted to trade our #4 pick straight up for Fields, which would still be a good trade for Chicago in my opinion!

Bears GM wouldn’t rule out taking a quarterback.

It’s hard to tell if that’s just blowing smoke to drive up the value of a pick they know they’re gonna trade or if they’re legitimately soured on Fields.

If they’re smart, they’d draft a quarterback. Fields is awful as a passer, worse than Lamar Jackson.

I’ll be LIVID if they trade for Fields.

That would be insanely stupid.

In fairness, the lack of success of Justin Fields (and lack of success from Ohio State in general) could rule out CJ Stroud by that logic.

And for that matter, have there been any good UF/Kentucky QB’s….ever? That would rule out Richardson/Levis as well.

Bryce Young (whom I’m far from in love with, as an Ole Miss diehard), is not a slam dunk, but for reasons not related to the Tide, I do believe he’s the most opportunistic prospect because he’s shown the most.

No one is taking on Leonard after this year. Not until he shows he can play.

Fields is a name guys throw around as someone Ballard should've drafted. I'm glad he didn't and I'm especially glad he didn't give up a bunch to do it. Trading for Fields now would be spectacularly annoying (of course I don't expect it).

As I've said, I'm late to the party on a lot of college guys, but now that the season is over I'm starting to look at them. So far, almost unanimously, Bryce Young is the #1 prospect. I know guys want Stroud, Levis, Richardson, whoever... and I know the knock on Bryce Young is his size...

But everyone else knows that, too. And they all still have Bryce Young #1. What I'm going back and watching is impressive, but I'm still trying to form my own opinion. But there must be a reason he's everyone's #1. The only knock I ever read on the kid is his size and there are exceptions to every rule.

And I wouldn't be shocked if the Bears went QB if they're getting an upgrade over Fields. League is too skewed towards QB.

Groupthink is extremely prevalent in draft circles, you'll learn that very quickly. It's honestly a way they protect their own reputations. "Well EVERYONE had it rated that way, obviously no one knew about (insert major flaw here)." You'll see it a lot. Russell Wilson was too small. Brock Purdy was just riding the incredible talent of Breece Hall. Trevor Lawrence is a god king in the making. All wrong things draftniks have said as a result of groupthink. Bryce Young is everyone's #1 because he's everyone else's #1. Don't get me wrong, he's incredibly talented and deserves to be very near the top despite his size. That said, he's not my #1. CJ Stroud is, because he's got all the same tools for the QB position that Bryce Young has that put him in that conversation, but he's 6'3" instead of 5'9" (that's my guess of Young's height based on watching his bowl game). I also like Stroud's tendency to use his athleticism to make plays in the passing game more than Young's tendency to use it to make plays in the running game, which is compounded by Young's diminutive stature.