The Chicago Bears continue to get mentioned among the most likely teams to move around the draft board next week during the first round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
Many are expecting the Bears to trade down from the ninth overall pick in favor of adding more draft capital this year, considering the team only has four selections total.
However, there is also a rumored possibility that the Bears move up, instead of down, from the ninth overall pick, using their future draft capital to do so in order to land another top draft prospect. That's exactly what NFL Network's draft expert Daniel Jeremiah suggested the Bears could do on Wednesday.
In his post on X, formally known as Twitter, Jeremiah suggested the Bears being a potential trade up team and even offered what that trade up could look like. Jeremiah had the Bears moving up three spots to the sixth overall pick with the New York Giants, costing a 2025 pick/pick swap in order to select Notre Dame tackle Joe Alt.
Alt is easily the best offensive line prospect in the entire draft and will be a surefire Top-8 selection, meaning it's highly unlikely he falls to the Bears pick at nine. The Bears haven’t met with Alt since the NFL Scouting Combine but could be using the lack of interest as a guise to hide their true intentions.
The possibility of pairing Alt with 2023 first round pick Darnell Wright to protect the team's new franchise quarterback is an enticing thought to have, even if the Bears already have a solid offensive tackle in Braxton Jones on the roster.
As Jeremiah noted, Jones is a functional left tackle but the idea of adding Alt would give the Bears two young, high-profile tackles on the outside. This would allow Jones to become the new swing tackle, or a potential asset for another team to trade for.
This option would be fascinating to see the Bears pull off on the opening night of the draft and will prove the Bears aren’t messing around when it comes to adding top talent to the roster. The trade package Jeremiah suggested seems validated enough to consider this a real possibility for the team. Even if it's not Alt the Bears look to draft, the option to trade up for one of the top three wide receivers is still on the table.
There's only one week left to go until the Bears kick off the draft with the first overall pick and it's anyone's guess what could happen after that.
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