Getty Bears quarterback Justin FIelds.
If the 2024 NFL Draft was held today, the Chicago Bears would own the top two picks.
There are a multitude of paths a team can traverse with those level of assets, and one sports podcasting personality offered an out-of-the-box suggestion that many people have probably never considered — that the Bears select two high-end quarterbacks.
“What’s the one thing that has plagued the Chicago Bears for the entirety of that franchise’s history. Quarterback, right?” Mike Ryan said on the Monday, October 16 edition of The Dan Le Batard Show with Stugotz. “Check this out. The Chicago Bears should draft Caleb Williams and Drake Maye. They should draft them both. One of them is bound to solve the problem.”
Bears Have Never Had True Franchise QB in 103-Year History
GettyQuarterback Caleb Williams of the USC Trojans.
In a crowded media space full of analyst and player voices, the hottest of hot takes can occasionally cut through the noise. Perhaps that was Ryan’s goal, but after considering his proposal, there is some legitimate logic to it.
Jim McMahon led the the 1985 Bears to a Super Bowl title, but the defense was the story. In the 103 years since the franchise was born, the most talented signal-caller the team has had is probably Jay Cutler.
Let that sink in.
Cutler is the best quarterback a historic NFL franchise has produced in more than a century of existence. That’s borderline criminal.
Justin Fields looked the part of QB savior in 2022, at least as a rusher of the football. But he struggled out of the gate this season before putting together a couple of quality performances against the Denver Broncos and Washington Commanders.
Even still, Chicago is 1-5 and Pro Football Focus ranks Fields 14th out of 33 quarterbacks who have taken enough snaps to qualify for a rating through Week 6. Fields is currently hurt after suffering a dislocated thumb on his throwing hand and becomes extension-eligible next offseason.
No matter how the Bears work it, Fields will become pricey in 2025 and will make huge money in 2026.
Drafting Caleb Williams, Drake Maye Sets Bears Up for Monster Trades Down the Line
GettyQuarterback Drake Maye of the North Carolina Tar Heels.
Drafting a quarterback next April allows Chicago to reset the clock on paying a QB a huge portion of its salary cap. The best way to build a championship roster is to acquire quality quarterback play at a premium price. Either Williams or Maye will allow Chicago to do that.
If the Bears choose to select both players — one with their own pick and one with the selection they acquired from the Carolina Panthers (0-6) via a trade last offseason — Fields becomes a high-value trade asset with one cheap year of salary in 2024 and another reasonable year of salary in 2025. Chicago can hold onto Williams and Maye for a season or two, decide who the best player is and then deal the other for a second massive trade haul.
It is easy to look at the notion of selecting two quarterbacks back-to-back with the top two picks as a failure to maximize the value of those draft assets. However, it’s not really failing to maximize draft value so much as it is pushing some of that value off a year or two while the organization gives itself two swings at landing a franchise quarterback.
The amount of assets Chicago could get back in return for Fields and either Williams or Maye a year or two down the line is likely to trump the No. 2 pick in 2024 by quite a lot. The Bears, of course, would probably never do it, but it’s an interesting thought experiment for a team that has never produced a 4,000-yard passer in its century-long history.