Ex-Chicago Bears Scout Reveals When Offers For #1 Pick Will Start

Speculation is already running wild on what the Chicago Bears will do with the #1 overall pick. As of today, it seems split into three camps. The "stay put" camp is where the team simply takes the best non-quarterback on their board. The "QB reset" camp is where GM Ryan Poles trades Justin Fields and takes his quarterback of choice at #1. Then there is the "trade down" camp, where the Bears auction off the pick to the highest bidder, hoping to stockpile several selections. That third option is by far the most popular.

People can't help but wonder what is going on behind the scenes at Halas Hall. Is GM Ryan Poles already fielding offers for the pick? There are rumors that one or two teams have at least opened talks about it. Maybe something could happen sooner than we think. Former Bears scout Greg Gabriel wouldn't count on it. Two weeks ago, he wrote for Windy City Gridiron that fans should sit back and relax. This process will take time. The actual conversations about the #1 pick won't begin for a while.

"Another rumor has circulated over the last few days that the Chicago Bears have already fielded offers for the first pick in this year's Draft. That rumor could be believable if it were April 1st, but today is February 3rd, and no team is going to make an offer for anything until they have all the information needed to make such a move.

When a club moves up in the Draft, they do so to get a specific player. At this point in the scouting process, all the information on ALL the players is not in yet. There are still about five weeks of work to do until maybe 85 to 90% of the data is in."

The Chicago Bears have no reason to rush.

Logic says the longer they wait, the more desperate quarterback-needy teams will become. Making the trade now wouldn't be a smart business decision. There is still free agency to let play out. Once the veteran quarterback market settles, the Bears will have a clear vision of which teams lack a definitive option moving toward the draft. There is also the scouting combine and school pro days to get through. Those won't be concluded until the end of March. So what Gabriel says is correct. The serious calls for the #1 pick should start around April 1st.

History backs this up. The last time that pick was traded was in 2016. It happened on April 14th, about two weeks before the draft. One can safely assume the Tennessee Titans and Los Angeles Rams started discussions on it weeks earlier and eventually reached the point of no return. The same should happen for the Chicago Bears. It comes down to which team makes the offer they're looking for. We won't know who that is until those needy teams meet with the top quarterbacks. All it takes is for one to fall in love with the other.