It's becoming overwhelmingly clear that not only do the Chicago Bears want to trade down from the No. 1 pick in the upcoming draft, but they'd also like to stay close enough to select a potential star.
The question looms – how far down the order is too far?
“Seven to one, that’s an expanse, I will tell you after talking to Chicago before all the Jalen Carter stuff happened, I think Chicago’s comfort zone was to seven. I truly believe that," Yahoo Sports' Charles Smith said on his podcast You Pod to Win the Game. "I think they would be comfortable moving back a few spots, maybe to the Colts, and then moving back again to the Raiders at seven and just accruing a ton of picks.”
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One of the more desirable draft day outcomes is for the Bears to trade back multiple times, thus receiving the most draft capital and future assets possible, while staying in range to take the guy they want.
As Smith stated, he believes the Bears are comfortable with going down as far as the No. 7 pick in the draft.
This could happen in a multitude of ways. Whether the Bears first switch spots in the draft with the Texans, and/or possibly with the Colts at No. 4. The Las Vegas Raiders hold the No. 7 pick and just watched their longtime quarterback, Derek Carr, sign with the New Orleans Saints. They also declined interest in Lamar Jackson, who has a non-exclusive franchise tag, giving him the right to construct a deal with other teams.
Surely, we can speculate the Raiders at least have some interest in trading up in the draft.
Assuming the top of the draft is riddled with quarterback prospects, the Bears hope to project where the QB carousel stops, and the top defensive prospects start to roll off the board. Will Anderson, Jalen Carter, Tyree Wilson and Myles Murphy are names the Bears surely have their eye on.
According to Albert Breer on Colin Cowherd's podcast, Ryan Poles sees seven players worth taking with the No. 1 pick. He designates them in the "blue" category, the top tier for the draft prospects.
Also, according to Peter King, Poles said he's received interest from three different teams. One of the teams is "further down" the draft order than he thought, via the same report.
The interest from other teams for the No.1 pick, and the feeling is mutual on Poles' end.
The question remains – how risky is Poles willing to be with trading further down on the draft order?