2024 NFL Mock Draft: Buccaneers benefit from a Top 10 shakeup

Like Arizona, the Bears need to make a decision on what to do with the young quarterback the team already has. Ryan Poles has incentive to take a quarterback here because it resets the clock and buys him a few years to figure things out. Drake Maye would be on a rookie contract and the team could spend its money elsewhere improving the roster.

Bailing on Justin Fields feels like a mistake, especially since the Bears can bring in an offensive-minded head coach to truly unlock his NFL potential. Taking a quarterback is the easy way out, but the Bears have a guy who isn’t more talented than Maye and already has experience in the league. Hiring an offensive head coach, drafting Marvin Harrison Jr to pair with D.J. Moore and then taking the best offensive tackle in the draft puts Fields in the best position to succeed.

If he’s not the guy, and he fails to breakthrough with that sort of infrastructure, the Bears can turn to the quarterback market in free agency to fill the need. At that point the defense will be far enough along that the team will be in a position to win-now, and an offense with this much talent will attract the right sort of veteran.

Drafting a quarterback makes sense, but there’s a much easier way out for the Bears.