All eyes in the NFL world are currently focused on the 2024 NFL Draft, where the Chicago Bears, who finished with the worst record in the league this past season, acquired the number one overall pick in 2023 from the Carolina Panthers. With that pick, the Bears are widely expected to select former USC Heisman Trophy-winning quarterback Caleb Williams. It seems that the Bears may not be fully committed to selecting Williams as their choice to replace Justin Fields, who was traded in the offseason after an inconsistent tenure in Chicago. The majority of the draft talk has focused on what the next few teams in line will do with their respective selections.
Ryan Poles, the general manager of the Bears and a former NFL player, recently discussed his draft strategy and offered little information on whether Williams is really on Chicago’s radar.
“Everyone will have to wait until Thursday, but we know what we’re going to do,” Poles stated, according to Stacey Dales of the NFL Network on X, the social media site that was formerly known as Twitter.
When Poles and the rest of the Chicago brass decided to send former starter Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers for some (astonishingly small) draft compensation, the Bears quarterback spot became open.
Fields’ time in Chicago was erratic; he struggled to maintain his health at times, displayed glimpses of the skills that made him a top pick in the 2021 Draft, but also struggled to properly integrate his game. It is largely anticipated that he will support Wilson in Pittsburgh.
A crucial choice for the Bears
Caleb Williams would have been the first overall pick in 2023 if he had been able to join the draft a year earlier. The Heisman Trophy winner started his undergraduate career in Oklahoma before moving on to join USC as the new head coach and quarterback combination when head coach Lincoln Riley left that university for the beautiful skies of Southern California.
