It's officially the Monday after the NFL Scouting Combine, the league's rumor mill capital of the offseason.
And we've heard the full gambit of rumors surrounding the Chicago Bears' No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.
To recap:
- Two NFL front office execs from different teams think Texans won't trade up
- One GM thinks the Bears trade back to the Panthers or outside the top-10
- Another GM thinks the Colts trade up with the Bears to draft C.J. Stroud
And that's all in one morning.
One thing is for certain, there are a lot of conversations being had about that No. 1 overall pick.
Now, Rich Eisen is entering the chat with the rumor he heard... which is this rumor mill might be coming to an end soon.
"The Bears are already long down the road of trading the first overall pick," Eisen said in his top rumors he heard at the combine segment. "Teams have been identified. Compensation is being hammered out."
Eisen cited a Ryan Poles quote from Peter King's Football Morning In America column where the Bears' general manager said team's would have to pay if the Bears dropped down out of their top-tier of prospects.
But while there has been a lot of smoke and mirrors in the media, trying to maintain pressure on teams entertaining trading up for the No. 1 pick, it seems to have worked.
"Man, Poles is playing this thing like a virtuoso so far, as far as I'm concerned," Eisen said. "So I hear the Bears are already long down the road in trading this first round draft choice."
A lot needs to happen before Poles' handling of the No. 1 overall pick and a trade down can be graded. But it seems like a frenzy has been stirred up.
Ian Rapoport reported that team's are "scrambling" to get the Bears' No. 1 overall pick and noted those talks could "heat up over the next couple of weeks.:
In that same King piece Eisen cited, Poles said he can feel the "urgency" and "pressure" on other teams, and he won't be rushed.
He also said he was having multiple conversations with teams already.
“The interesting part is having a conversation with one team, and then one hour later another team texts you wanting in on the trade and they’re not afraid of what the floor of what you’re asking for is," Poles said.
And he named his asking price for the No. 1 overall pick. A 2024 first-rounder and a 2025 first-rounder.