Members of the Chicago Bears' staff would be wise to work on their debating skills in the days leading up to the 2024 NFL Draft.
Regarding who they should take with the No. 9 overall pick, Bears general manager Ryan Poles recently said that he and his staff would debate which player should be selected.
"I like the numbers in terms of the talented players that can get to nine," Poles said, via the team's website. "We're going to do some cool things when we get back, kind of break into teams. One team is going to talk about [why] the tackle position is the best to go after, [why] the receiver's the best, [why] the defensive end's the best and use factual information to spit that out -- and we'll have a debate in terms of what's more impactful for our football team, short term and long term."
"We're going to look at, 'Hey, who's the best tackle? Who's the best receiver? Who's the best rusher? Who's the best this or that?'" Bears coach Matt Eberflus added. "It's going to be good to be able to break into that and see guys' opinions. In order to have good communication, it's got to be authentic and it's got to be true, and you have to be able to speak your opinion."
While the Bears could select a player with the pick, Poles is open to trading the pick in exchange for draft capital. Chicago currently has just four draft picks -- two in the first (1, 9), one in the third (75) and one in the fourth (123). The team recently dealt a fourth-rounder to the Chargers for star wife receiver Keenan Allen.
"For sure," Poles said. "That will kind of play out. We'll see what the numbers look like and that'll kind of dictate how far we can move back if we decide to do that."
It appears that the Bears have decided what they will do with the No. 1 overall pick. After trading Justin Fields to the Pittsburgh Steelers, Chicago began finalizing its evaluations of each of the top quarterback prospects and were planning to finalize its decision by the end of March, according to ESPN.
While Chicago is keeping its options open with the ninth pick, it seems like a forgone conclusion that the Bears will select between quarterbacks Caleb Williams, Drake Maye or Jayden Daniels with the No. 1 overall pick. Each of our six CBS Sports draft experts currently have the Bears using the pick to select Williams, the 2022 Heisman Trophy winner.
