The 2024 season hasn’t even begun, but we all know draft season runs 24/7/365. It is always interesting to see what the experts believe the Chicago Bears will do next year. This time in 2023, most experts projected the Bears would target a quarterback, given the uncertainty around Justin Fields at the time. They were, of course, proven correct. Caleb Williams became their selection at #1 overall. However, with the team appearing far more talented than it was at the start of last year, predicting their plans for next year could be difficult.
Or not.
Top draft insider Matt Miller of ESPN took a stab at it. He has the Bears selecting 17th next spring, which indicates an improved record from their 7-10 campaign in 2024. Sadly, it’s not quite enough to reach the playoffs. Still, he believes they come out of it with exactly what they need. This time, GM Ryan Poles decides to give Matt Eberflus and the defense exactly what they failed to secure this past spring. It will be a flashy new pass rusher joining that front four.
17. Chicago Bears
Mykel Williams, Edge, Georgia*
General manager Ryan Poles has done a masterful job rebuilding the roster in Chicago, but the defensive line could use someone such as Williams. The 6-foot-5, 265-pound junior has experience playing both inside and outside alignments, but his future is off the edge in the pros. His nine sacks in two seasons of rotational work point to the impact he can make with full-time reps in 2024. Williams’ combination of power and a sudden first-step could get him drafted in the top 10.
Georgia is once again a football factory these days. They’re the envy of the college football world, what Alabama was at the height of Nick Saban’s rule. Williams is another in a long line of big, freakish athletes the Bulldogs seem to find. His production through two years has been solid, with nine sacks and 13 tackles for a loss. Many feel this junior campaign will be his coming out party. He showed lots of progress towards the end of the 2023 season, playing his best game of the year in the Orange Bowl against Florida State.
One interesting subplot to this prediction is the Chicago Bears have not taken a single player from Georgia across three years under Ryan Poles. Conversely, they’ve selected two players from Tennessee. Williams would be the third player from that program selected in the 1st round by the Bears since 2016. He would also be the third defender, joining Leonard Floyd and Roquan Smith. Both of them ended up becoming good players in the NFL. So perhaps this isn’t such a bad idea.
