The price for the No. 1 pick may have gone up over the weekend. Several big name quarterbacks put together impressive performances at the NFL Combine, and now it seems many teams will be interested in moving up to draft one of them.
“I would say the interest in Ryan Poles’ No. 1 pick for the Chicago Bears is significant, and the quarterback performances that we saw (at the Combine) really only bolstered that,” said Ian Rapoport on NFL Network.
Bryce Young did not participate in drills at the Combine, but he’s been the consensus No. 1 pick for months. However other players like C.J. Stroud, Anthony Richardson and Will Levis did well to raise their personal stocks, which could open up the possibility of the Bears trading back twice as more teams try to add an exciting young arm to their roster. For instance, if the Bears swap places with the Texans and acquire the No. 2 pick, it’s conceivable the Bears get back on the phones and move the No. 2 pick to another team desperate to draft one of the remaining QBs.
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“There’s a lot of interest in some high, high profile quarterbacks,” said Rapoport. “Moreso than we’ve seen in previous years, so you do have teams scrambling to get up to No. 1. I would expect those (trade talks) to really heat up over the next couple of weeks, here. Ryan Poles is going to have options. It seems, I would say, more likely than not that he ends up dealing that No. 1 pick and has a chance to really set the foundation for the Chicago Bears as they rebuild everything.”
The Bears currently control eight picks in the draft, but that number could grow if a bidding war breaks out for the No. 1 pick. The draft begins Apr. 27.
