Vikings Rival Could Get Super Funky during 2023 Draft

Daniel Bartel-USA TODAY Sports.

You have an assignment. Tell your “Bears fan friends” they owe you a humongous ‘thank you,’ gift basket, or wad of cash.

The Chicago Bears have the No. 1 overall pick on April 27th in the NFL Draft because of the Minnesota Vikings. The Bears and Vikings danced at Soldier Field in the regular season’s final game, and Minnesota opted to play starters, thus downing Chicago 29-13 in a meaningless contest.

Vikings Rival Could Get Super Funky during 2023 Draft

Well, the showdown wasn’t meaningless for the Bears (as it turned out), as the Houston Texans mind-bogglingly decided to beat the Indianapolis Colts while the Vikings and Bears battled, so Chicago landed the first overall pick.

And now Chicago has options — options galore.

Vikings Rival Could Get
Adam Cairns-The Columbus Dispatch.

Bears general manager Ryan Poles has hinted this offseason that the franchise is committed to quarterback Justin Fields, asserting he’d need to be “blown away” by one of the upcoming draft class’ rookie QBs to pivot away from Fields.

Well, if CBS Sports Jason La Canfora is to be believed, Poles may be amidst the blown away process. La Canfora, a credible NFL mind, tweeted Wednesday, “More than one NFL general manager came away from the Senior Bowl fairly convinced that Justin Fields will be dealt.”

Daniel Bartel-USA TODAY Sports.

What does this mean? It’s somewhat straightforward. The Bears are quasi-expected to trade the No. 1 overall pick to a team like the Indianapolis Colts — who are outwardly salivating over the pick — or Houston Texans for what figures to be a Robert Griffinish king’s ransom. Chicago, because it claims to love Fields, would then use oodles of high-round draft capital to build a team around the Ohio State alumnus.

However, the La Canfora tweet severely pumps the brakes on the theory. Instead, Poles could trade Fields to a team like the Carolina Panthers, Colts — or any team, really — and start the five-year, rookie-contract clock on Bryce Young or C.J. Stroud.

Until the La Canfora rumor, it was merely accepted that Poles adored Fields and would probably fire off a spiffy trade involving the first overall pick. Now, though, Bears fans must contemplate the trade value that the club could extract from Fields while pondering a future with Young or Stroud.

Gary Cosby Jr.-USA TODAY Sports.

The Bears pre-draft lead-up or draft night dealings could get super funky, and these are three possible outcomes:

  1. Do nothing via trade: draft the best player at No. 1 — probably an EDGE rusher like Will Anderson.
  2. Trade Fields to a QB-hungry team and draft Young or Stroud as the QB of the future.
  3. Trade the #1 overall pick for a sack of gold that would likely include multiple high-round draft picks, committing to Fields for the foreseeable future.

Those are the stakes. Before yesterday, most NFL brains tended to assume Fields was “the guy” in Chicago, but that mindset could be undergoing more evaluation than most believed.

The NFL Draft is 70 days away.


Dustin Baker is a political scientist who graduated from the University of Minnesota in 2007. Subscribe to his daily YouTube Channel, VikesNow. He hosts a podcast with Bryant McKinnie, which airs every Wednesday with Raun Sawh and Sal Spice. His Vikings obsession dates back to 1996. Listed guilty pleasures: Peanut Butter Ice Cream, ‘The Sopranos,’ and The Doors (the band).

All statistics provided by Pro Football Reference / Stathead; all contractual information provided by OverTheCap.com.

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