A Non-Emotional View on the Bears' Number 1 Pick

There has been a lot of chatter about the Chicago Bears draft position this year. Even at the Super Bowl, commentators chose to ask Adam Schefter about what the Bears were going to do with Justin Fields and their number 1 overall pick instead of asking about the game.

Let me preface with this: I love Justin Fields. He is the first quarterback for the Bears that I’ve truly loved. Of course, Cutler had his moments, but the electric atmosphere felt in Soldier Field when Fields would break off one of his long runs for a touchdown was unmatched. However, in this blog, I want to take a step back and look at this from a non-emotional side. This is exactly what Ryan Poles has to do as GM. He has to look at this from two positions: Financial and Football, taking emotions out of it.

I want to look specifically at financial first. Justin Fields is going into the fourth year on his rookie contract, with an option for a fifth year. At the end of that contract, he will have to be re-signed to an undoubtedly large deal. In spite of Fields not being a top five quarterback in the country, the quarterback position just gets paid more than any other position. That’s the bottom line. He will create a massive cap hit with that contract extension, making it more difficult to build a successful offense and defense around him. From a financial perspective, it just makes sense to draft Caleb Williams, Drake Maye, or any other quarterback Poles thinks will be successful to reset the quarterback contract situation. My personal opinion is that Caleb Williams is the closest prospect we have seen to Patrick Mahomes and there is no way the Bears should pass on him if they decide to draft a quarterback.

From a pure football perspective, it’s hard to say what will happen. My hope for the 2023 season was that Fields would take massive strides and answer any questions about him. Unfortunately, his season was not the third season wonder like Josh Allen and Jalen Hurts had. It did not help that he missed several games with a thumb injury. However, there is no denying his incredible talent, raw though it might be. I firmly believe that if the Bears got another elite wide receiver and a couple of O-Line upgrades, Fields would make those strides. On the Caleb Williams side (I am just looking at Williams in this draft, no other QB prospect), you never really know if a quarterback will work out. We have seen first overall quarterbacks bust time and time again. However, if Caleb Williams is as elite as everyone says he is, then I will not be concerned if the Bears select him at 1. I too believe he is the best quarterback prospect we have seen in a long time and to pass on him for any other quarterback would be foolish. If you are Poles and planning on getting rid of Fields, then Williams is definitely your guy.

Taking out any emotion leads to this fully logical decision of what the Bears should do with the number 1 overall pick: Draft Caleb Williams. He makes sense financially because he resets the quarterback contract situation, allowing you to spend on other needs in the team. He also has the highest potential of any quarterback prospect we have seen in a long time. Emotionally, I would keep Fields and build around him, but Poles has to make a non-emotional decision, so I figured I would try to step into his shoes.