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Bears and Colts Destined to Make Deal for No. 1 Pick?

Originally posted on On Tap Sports Net | By Ron Luce | Last updated 2/23/23

The Colts are reportedly prepared to do whatever it takes to get a QB, including making a deal with the Bears for the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

If you're a fan of NFL transactions, this is likely one of your favorite times of the year. The NFL Draft Combine is on the horizon, the NFL Draft is roughly two months away, and free agency is sandwiched in between that time period. And in the land of Chicago Bears football, the No. 1 pick is the lead storyline of the season. As things stand, suspicions and speculations are starting to point to one team, in particular, making a deal with the Bears for the top pick. That team is the Indianapolis Colts.

In his latest mock draft, Colts insider James Boyd envisions the Bears and Colts making a monster trade that appeases the needs of both teams. He predicts the outcome based on some chatter around the league regarding a potential deal, which would entail the Bears acquiring the No. 4 pick, No. 35 pick, one of the Colts' two fifth-round selections, and a first-round pick in 2024. And of course, Indianapolis would receive the No. 1 overall selection in such a trade.

With the top pick, Boyd predicts the Colts will select Alabama QB Bryce Young. It's a logical move is logical for the Colts, who have been stuck in a terrible cycle by recycling veteran QBs ever since Andrew Luck retired. With this trade, Indianapolis would finally have its franchise QB.

On the flip side, this proposed trade would help the Bears accomplish something that Ryan Poles has shown great interest in — acquiring more draft picks. Last year, his Day 3 extravaganza of flipping around the draft board netted the Bears a number of additional picks. In this hypothetical swap with the Colts, Chicago would recoup a second-round pick that it lost in the Chase Claypool trade, and acquire an additional first next season and an extra fifth-rounder in 2023.

If you were to assign a point value to the trade, it would breakdown as such:

As noted above, the Bears would receive roughly a third-round pick's worth of additional value. Obviously, if the Colts struggle again in 2023, that first-round pick will be worth a lot more. However, the trade would satisfy the needs of both teams and allow the Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts to get fair value in the transaction.

Whether a trade comes to fruition or not remains to be seen, but the hypothetical terms seem to be favorable for both sides. If conversations have indeed taken place, this could very well be the framework of a pre-draft trade. In the meantime, we'll continue to speculate what a possible return for the No. 1 overall pick could entail.

This article first appeared on On Tap Sports Net and was syndicated with permission.

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