NEWSLETTER
With a whole lotta smoke that the Chicago Bears are “plotting a move” up the draft to take one of the top five quarterbacks, any time I see another team considering trading back, my antenna goes up.
Add the Dolphins, with their newly-gotten sixth pick, to the mix:
The #Dolphins have already made two moves in the NFL Draft and they may not be done yet: Sources say they’ve received calls from teams looking to trade up to No. 6 and it is something they’re considering. Lot of things in play, but Miami could be at it again.
— Ian Rapoport (@RapSheet) April 19, 2021
If you’re the Dolphins, and if you’re comfortable riding with Tua Tagovailoa, then you have to be considering trade backs this year. With as many as five quarterbacks who could go in the top six picks, this might be a uniquely strong opportunity to pick up future draft capital to add to what they’ve already secured.
You can safely assume that, at least on a feel-it-out level, Bears GM Ryan Pace has been one of those phone calls to the Dolphins.
For the Bears, the rub is similar – but even more challenging – to the situation with the Falcons at four. First, you’re going to have plenty of competition to move up, be from the Patriots or Broncos or whatever team, and those clubs have better trade back slots to offer than the Bears at 20. Second, if you’re moving up to four (much less six), you’ve gotta be reeaaaally confident that your guy, or your one of two guys, is going to be there. And since we know Trevor Lawrence and Zach Wilson are basically locks to go 1-2, then any trade up is going to hinge on you (1) believing the 49ers rumors about loving Mac Jones, or (2) you, yourself, loving Mac Jones in case either of Justin Fields or Trey Lance isn’t still there on the board. Those are both pretty tough for me, as much as I would love to see the Bears land one of the top QBs.
Keep an eye on this, and, well, everything. The trade smoke is just gonna billow more and more until round one begins in 10 days, and then it’ll be crazy in those first 20 minutes. As Luis often reminds us, Bears moves tend not to leak in the Ryan Pace era, so it’d be a little surprising if it turns out that everything the outsiders are hearing is true (i.e., the Bears are feverishly trying to trade up). But it does make a lot of sense.
