Getty Bears general manager Ryan Poles, left, and head coach Matt Eberflus.
The Chicago Bears have three potential positions of need and four total picks in the upcoming NFL draft, which makes their 9th selection one of the more interesting pivot points in the whole of the three-day proceedings.
For the moment, Chicago isn’t letting on what precisely they intend to do with their second pick inside of the top 10. However, head coach Matt Eberflus and general manager Ryan Poles recently opened up on their process behind determining the player they will take at No. 9.
Wide receiver? Pass rusher? Offensive tackle? A trade back to recoup draft capital? Ryan Poles said he likes the options the Bears have with the No. 9 pick and broke his staff off into teams to evaluate then debate each position and what’s the best fit.
“Wide receiver? Pass rusher? Offensive tackle? A trade back to recoup draft capital?” Courtney Cronin of ESPN wrote posted to X on Saturday, April 6. “Ryan Poles said he likes the options the Bears have with the No. 9 pick and broke his staff off into teams to evaluate then debate each position and what’s the best fit.”
Bears Expect to Land Blue Chip Prospect, Perhaps WR Rome Odunze, With 9th Overall Pick
GettyWashington Huskies wide receiver Rome Odunze.
If Chicago lands on an option that involves drafting a player, they expect with near 100% certainty that he will be of an elite caliber considering the depth of talent at multiple positions in the 2024 class.
“We’re going to get a ‘blue’ [the highest-rated prospect by how the team color codes its draft board] player there for sure,” Eberflus said, per Cronin. “What we’ve done in free agency allows us to be flexible, to really be able to take the best player, the one we feel fits for us in that spot.”
The most consequential move Chicago made during the first wave of free agency was actually a trade, picking up wide receiver Keenan Allen from the Los Angeles Chargers for a fourth-round pick. Allen, a six-time Pro Bowler over the last seven years, removes any desperation for another pass-catcher from the Bears’ draft equation.
That freedom opens up all sorts of possibilities for Chicago at No. 9, considering there are three highly sought after wideouts likely to go in the top 10, one of which could fall to the Bears if there are any shakeups inside the top five. Such a shakeup is likely due to the quarterback need around the league and the talent at that position in this year’s draft.
The most likely candidate at receiver to drop to the 9th spot is Rome Odunze of Washington. The Bears can select him and create a super-talented trio alongside Allen and DJ Moore. Or the franchise can trade off that pick, move down a handful of spots for a veritable haul of assets and still land an excellent prospect at edge rusher or left tackle for the trouble.
Bears Can Land Elite Edge With 9th Pick, or Trade Back and Still Potentially Draft Player Like Jared Verse
GettyEdge rusher Jared Verse of the Florida State Seminoles.
Chicago already has a solid left tackle in Braxton Jones, which doesn’t preclude the team from drafting an offensive lineman with the 9th pick (or in the mid-teens, for instance, should it trade down), but does render a pass rusher a more likely target.
Based on the most recent mock draft from ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr., the Atlanta Falcons will select the first defensive player of the draft in edge defender Dallas Turner of Alabama with the No. 8 pick. That would leave Chicago with its choice of defenders one spot later, and edge rusher Jared Verse of Florida State is probably the favorite if the Bears go that route.
However, Eberflus told Cronin that while the team is looking for a playmaker to impact opposing quarterbacks with regularity, it won’t pigeonhole itself to a specific position.
“To me, it’s always about affecting the quarterback or helping the quarterback. It comes down to those two questions,” Eberflus said. “We’re looking at all pass rushers. It can be inside, outside, all along the line. We’re having an open mind in that regard.”