Chicago Bears 7-Round Mock Draft: 1.0

The Super Bowl is over, and it’s time to finally, rightfully, turn our attention to the Chicago Bears offseason. I know you’ve been seen a bazillion mock drafts since Thanksgiving at every media outlet that covers football, but there’s a reason why I decided to fire up the PFF Mock Draft Simulator and give it a whirl today.

First, it’s fun. I think that these can be fun exercises, if you’re treating them with a degree of realisticness. I have a great example in the first version of my Chicago Bears seven-round mock draft, but I'll talk about that later.

Second, I want to be able to look back on these and see how fluid the pre-draft process is when the dust is settled in Detroit in April. For example, when I did this before the Senior Bowl — and kept it to myself — I had the Bears addressing the need for a center by taking Oregon’s Jackson Powers-Johnson outside the first round. We know today that’s highly unlikely after his Senior Bowl performance was so damn good that he’s skyrocketed to No. 20 on Dane Brugler’s latest Big Board.

So, it was back to the drawing board. Over the next 73 days we’re going to see other names rise and fall, and we’re going to see needs addressed in free agency for the Bears and the rest of the league. At this point, I think today — in the wake of the Super Bowl and the Senior Bowl — is a good starting point for this exercise. I’ll likely do this again post Scouting Combine, post free agency, and once more in the week leading up to the NFL Draft in late April.

If in between those dates the Bears do something significant, like trade Justin Fields, I’ll do one then too.

Before we get into the details of my full seven-round mock, here’s a peek at how the first round shook out for the entire league in this version and some thoughts on it. After that, I’ll go into detail on every Bears trade and selection.

2024 Chicago Bears 7-Round Mock Draft: 1.0 — Round 1 Results

Complete First Round Thoughts …

I have the Bears selecting Caleb Williams at No. 1 overall. If you paid attention to my coverage from the Super Bowl last week, there shouldn’t be a surprise there.

I do not have the Bears taking a wide receiver at No. 9, because the simulator has the Patriots taking Marvin Harrison Jr. at No. 3, Arizona taking Rome Odunze at No. 4, and Atlanta taking Malik Nabers at No. 8. With the big three wide receivers off the board, I went with Notre Dame’s Joe Alt at No. 9, giving Caleb Williams my No. 1 tackle in this class.

But I really believe the Bears need a wide receiver to compliment D.J. Moore next season, so I got creative and worked out a deal with the Pittsburgh Steelers that would send Justin Fields to Pittsburgh in exchange for the No. 20 pick in the first round, which I used to select LSU’s Brian Thomas Jr.

Here’s what that full trade looks like:

This is where the factor of realism comes into play. I think the Steelers wouldn't trade No. 20 for Justin Fields alone. So, I added Chicago's 2025 second-round pick to the deal. Keep in mind, this is the Bears ‘25 second-rounder, not the Panthers, which will be the better of the two selections if all things go according to plan for the Bears next season.

For adding the second-rounder, the Steelers parted ways with No. 120 in this year’s draft, a selection Pittsburgh received from the Los Angeles Rams in the Kevin Dotson trade in August.

So, the Bears end the first round with Caleb Williams, Joe Alt, and Brian Thomas Jr., while Justin Fields heads to Pittsburgh. But this complete seven-round still has five more selections (and a trade) for the Bears, so stick around.

Here’s what it looks like (and why I made the selections and trades that I did):