The Bears wound up with the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft when they lost and the Texans won in Week 18 and General Manager Ryan Poles was asked about the plans for that pick at a Tuesday press conference.
Quarterbacks are always in the discussion for the top pick, but the Bears have Justin Fields heading into his third season. That made the team’s commitment to Fields one of the topics of conversation.
Poles said the team will evaluate the entire draft class and that Fields needs to improve as a passer, but that he’s “excited” about the direction Fields is headed and that he will have to be “absolutely blown away” in order to use the pick on a quarterback.
Selecting a player from a different position isn’t the only other option for the team, of course. The Bears could also get blown away by a trade offer for the pick and use the assets to build a stronger team around Fields for the 2023 season.
Any decision the Bears make will have a lot of bearing on how the rest of the first round plays out in April.