Since the Chicago Bears clinched the right to draft the first overall pick in the draft this year, the level of drama and intrigue we were all set to see was effectively also in their control. I have found that drafts that do not feature a trade for the first overall pick tend to follow a bit more predictable nature whereas when the opposite is true and the first overall selection does change hands, teams often need to maneuver more and make selections that are a bit less expected in certain instances. Therefore, when Chicago ultimately traded the first overall pick to Carolina in mid-March, I had a feeling we might see a more action-packed draft this year. The trade, which sent the first pick to Carolina in exchange for the ninth overall pick, 61st overall pick, the Panthers’ first round pick in 2024, the Panthers’ 2025 second round pick, and wide receiver D.J. Moore, opened a flurry of trades in the first round that completely changed the face and dynamic the round, providing several moves that should reverberate throughout the league for many years to come. The trades also set in place a cascade of surprising selections, as teams were forced to reconsider their original player valuations as players either came off the board earlier than expected or fell further than anticipated. These surprising selections should, too, have a similar effect.
Who did the Bears get in the Draft day 1?
For their part, after making the aforementioned trade, Chicago found themselves on the clock with the ninth overall selection, a pick they also chose to trade. Yes, the Bears made not just one, but two first round trades, both occurring in the top ten picks of the draft. This trade, while much less dramatic, saw the Bears trade down one spot to the tenth overall pick with Philadelphia in return for the Eagles’ 2024 fourth round pick.
Finally, after two trades, Chicago made their first selection of the draft when they selected offensive tackle Darnell Wright – Tennessee with the tenth pick of the draft. The selection is a bit unconventional for such a high-value pick, but it does undoubtedly fit a need. You see, Wright is not a left tackle, a position that is traditionally highly sought after and consistent with top prospects at the position coming off the board in this range, he is a right tackle. Wright played right tackle most of his college career, with the exception of his junior year when he switched to left tackle. As a senior he was a dominant force as he again switched back to right tackle, garnering All-SEC honors in his final season. In some instances, teams will use a highly drafted left tackle on the other end of the offensive line early in their career to take advantage of their skill set before switching them back to the left side once a veteran player has left the team. In other instances, a right tackle will be drafted in the hopes their skill set can be used to defend the blind side, saving the team a bit of money in the process. This is almost certainly not the case, in either scenario I outlined, with Wright.
Wright appears more comfortable at the right tackle position and, to make such a move even less likely, the Bears appear to have found exceptional value from a fifth-round pick in the 2022 draft, Braxton Jones. Jones started every game for Chicago last season, demonstrating he likely should have come off the board much sooner than he ultimately did. While not perfect, his performance as a rookie has him firmly entrenched as the starter at left tackle this season as well. Furthermore, the Bears lost their starting right tackle from last season, Riley Reiff to the Patriots in free agency. No, this selection is, in all likelihood, is as it appears on the surface, a move to address the right side of the offensive line. While unorthodox, the pick could pay significant dividends if Justin Fields is given a bit more time in the pocket or if the running lanes are just a bit wider for any ball carriers. Only time will tell if this pick ultimately pays off as it is a bit risky from a value standpoint, but is also one with unexplored upside that could make Chicago look like geniuses by this time next year.
KNOXVILLE, TN - SEPTEMBER 02: Tennessee Volunteers offensive lineman Darnell Wright (58) blocks during a college football game against the Bowling Green Falcons on Sept. 2, 2021 at Neyland Stadium in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Photo by Joe Robbins/Icon Sportswire)
Who did the Bears draft in day 2 of the 2023 NFL Draft?
Normally you would expect Day Two to kick off with the first pick of the second round matching the original owner of the first overall pick of the draft. This season, that was never the case. You see, last season the Bears traded their second-round pick to Pittsburgh in order to obtain wide receiver Chase Claypool. The move did not quite pan out as Chicago had hoped, obviously, as the team ended the season with the worst record in the league. Nonetheless, the Bears did make two picks in the second round, the 53rd and 56th overall picks. With the 53rd pick, a pick obtained from Baltimore as part of the Roquan Smith trade, Chicago selected defensive lineman Gervon Dexter – Florida. Dexter is an absolutely enormous human being, standing 6’-6” tall and weighing 310 pounds, he does well creating havoc in the middle of the line as few blockers can consistently contend with him one on one. In The ORANGE Report I stated that he would make the most sense a nose tackle, a role that he still yet may feel with Bears on certain packages as his pass rushing moves are not all that effective and he can clog up running lanes, forcing opponents to the outside. As a further feather in my cap, I actually projected Dexter to Chicago at the exact pick he was selected as well. The pick should help to improve the rush defense of the Bears, which allowed the second-most rushing yards in the league last season.
With the 56th overall pick, Chicago stayed on the defensive side of the ball as they selected cornerback Tyrique Stevenson – Miami. This is another selection that was made to fill an immediate need as the starting right cornerback for Chicago, Kindle Vildor, was generally ineffective as a starter last season, allowing roughly two out of every three passes thrown his way to be completed and notching just a single interception. In Stevenson, the Bears appear to have a more consistent and physical defender in pass coverage. The downside though, is that Stevenson is very unimpressive against the run, an issue I already mentioned that the team had problems with last season. Chicago will need to find ways to make Stevenson more effective in this area or they may simply be trading one issue for another at the position
Tyrique Stevenson, Chicago's 2nd pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, has been going off at OTA's and has adapted to the NFL very quickly according to reports.
Stevenson reminds me a ton of prime Major Wright and could be a huge contributor to this defense for a long time!
BEAR DOWN pic.twitter.com/j6joq1GXzX
— Just Another Year Chicago (@OfficialJAYCHI) June 20, 2023
Finally making a pick at the top of the round, in the third round the Bears not only stayed on the defensive side of the ball with the 64th overall pick, they went back to the defensive line as they selected Zacch Pickens – South Carolina. In several ways Pickens is significantly different from the earlier pick of Dexter, both for better, and worse. On the plus side, Pickens is exceptionally quick off the snap of the ball, reacting much faster than Dexter ever could, while his motor and effort are both superior to that of Dexter as well. However, unlike Dexter, Pickens has proven to be much easier for blockers to push around and he has, thus far, been entirely ineffective when double-teamed. Look for Pickens to serve much more of a rotational role where his speed and motor could be leveraged as part of packages that look to leverage speed at all positions. Conversely, he is likely to be off the field in short yardage situations as he lacks the ability to stand his ground and clog up running lanes.
Who did the Bears select day 3 of the Draft?
Day Three ended with six additional picks being made by Chicago which included running back Roschon Johnson – Texas (pick 115), wide receiver Tyler Scott – Cincinnati (pick 133), linebacker Noah Sewell – Oregon (pick 148), cornerback Terell Smith – Minnesota (pick 165), defensive lineman Travis Bell – Kennesaw State (pick 218), and cornerback Kendall Williamson – Stanford (pick 258). There are several selections in this grouping that present some significant value, namely Johnson and Sewell.
First, I absolutely love the Johnson pick, a tragically overlooked and undervalued prospect throughout the draft process. In The ORANGE Report I had him almost perfectly projected as I missed his selection by just one pick, I had him being selected 114th overall as opposed to where he ultimately was selected at 115th overall. This pick makes an immense amount of sense for Chicago as he proved to be nearly as effective as his former Longhorns teammate, Bijan Robinson last season, accumulating 6.0 rushing yards per carry compared to 6.1 yards for Robinson, while those averages were reversed the season prior with Johnson collecting 5.9 yards per carry and Robinson gaining 5.8 per rush. I mention this because for all the hype around Robinson, Chicago might have found the closest comparison to Robinson, just over 100 picks later. Additionally, with David Montgomery no longer in Chicago, over 200 carries are now up for grabs between Khalil Herbert, D’Onta Foreman, and now Johnson. This volume of carries, even if split three ways, could give Johnson more than enough opportunity to thrive and to command additional carries in subsequent seasons as Foreman is signed to just a one-year deal, allowing for a further split of those carries between Johnson and Herbert by his second season.
In regard to the Sewell selection, the Bears could have a solid back-up in place to step in should Tremaine Edmunds be forced to miss any time. While unlikely to be a full-time starter, he can effectively step in for any extended stretches with a minimal decline in production. While finding starting talent deep in the fifth round is exceptionally difficult, if not impossible, obtaining a solid depth player is not a bad consolation prize.
When all was said and done, Chicago ended up making just two initial picks in a round out of the seven they could have made. Very few teams were anywhere near as willing to make trades as they were with eight picks leaving the team and seven picks being made by the team that were not originally theirs, in just this draft alone, saying nothing of the future picks that exchanged hands. The Bears had an outsized impact on this draft class as seven percent of all the picks made were a result of some action that involved Chicago, this is in contrast to the three percent of picks each team originally owns as part of normal draft pick distribution.
Did the Bears draft well?
The real question to ask though is, “Did all this movement result in an exceptional infusion of talent or were the Bears on the losing end of the value redistribution?”
Unfortunately, I would lean towards the latter being true, at least for this draft class. While the Wright pick was bold and unexpected, their Day Two defensive line picks felt disjoined and lacked direction as the team appears unlikely to start either player at any point this season, barring an injury to the current starters ahead of them. That said, yes, the Stevenson pick was a solid value and was a solid identification of a player that should start as a rookie for the team. Taken together, in terms of immediate value, while I think the team could have done better, I feel confident giving them a grade of B+.
However, in terms of long-term value, it is here that Chicago appears to have excelled. Of the ten players the team ultimately drafted, as many as nine appear to be penciled in as either starters, direct back-ups to the starter of their position, or in rotational roles that should allow them to see a significant amount of playing time as a rookie. Now, bear in mind, this is a team that just finished with the worst record in football last season, there are bound to be opportunities across the board in such a situation. Nonetheless, especially as it relates to the Day Three selections, Chicago found solid value and appears to be taking a depth-based approach to their rebuild. To this end, there are few teams that could remotely compare to the amount of playable options the Bears added to their roster. Therefore, if I gave the team anything other than a grade of an A+ for long-term value I would feel as if I were cheating them, so that is exactly the grade they will receive. With the amount of starters, depth, and future picks the team added as a result of this draft, it should be a while before we see the Bears with the first overall pick again.
