KANSAS CITY, Mo. — In a pick the Bears will be following for years, the Panthers used the selection got from them in a trade last month to take Alabama quarterback Bryce Young first overall in the NFL Draft.
The Bears claimed the top pick in January after finishing with a league-worst 3-14 record, but it was widely assumed they would deal it since they wouldn’t be looking for a quarterback.
General manager Ryan Poles sent the No. 1 pick to the Panthers in March and moved back to No. 9, a move that showed his commitment to Justin Fields. The trade landed the Bears an extra second-round pick this year and the Panthers’ first-rounder in 2024.
Poles and coach Matt Eberflus said they would do a thorough vetting of the draft’s quarterbacks and consider whether any of them had more upside than Fields, who rushed for 1,143 yards last season but finished last among NFL starters at 149.5 yards passing per game.
“We all evaluated it early because we knew we were possibly going to make this decision early,” Eberflus said last month. “It was the first thing we did. We evaluated the quarterbacks with where they were and where they fit. I think we made a good decision.”
After Young, Ohio State quarterback C.J. Stroud and Florida’s Anthony Richardson were selected by the Texans and Colts, respectively. Kentucky’s Will Levis is also projected to go in the first round.
