Draft Buzz Grows, Tags Bringing Free Agency Clarity, Happy Sweetness Day! And Other Bears Bullets

It was good to see the Bears lose last night.

No, not those Bears. The college basketball Bears. Unless you’re a Saluki or ardent Missouri Valley Conference basketball fan, it probably wasn’t on your radar last night.

Nevertheless, it really had me thinking about how much I’m looking forward to seeing Chicago Bears football in person next year. That shared game day experience is my favorite thing about fandom. And after an offseason of wise spending and good use of draft picks, I can’t wait to see what the Bears will look like when they take the field in 2023.

• Getting buzz about what the Bears are asking for in certain trade talks has me geeked:

• Part of me knows not to expect a deal for the No. 1 pick to go down any time soon. However, GM Ryan Poles opened the door to making a trade before the start of the new league year. That makes the next 11 days fun. Getting a deal sooner and not later allows for the possibility for the Bears to target a veteran player in a trade. This wouldn’t be unprecedented either. I remember when Eric Metcalf was part of the Chargers trade to move up to get Ryan Leaf. If you’ll recall, that deal had the Chargers and Cardinals swapping picks with Arizona getting Metcalf, San Diego’s first two picks in 1998 and a first-rounder in 1999. It would be interesting to see how creative a deal like this could get.

• I’m gearing up to go on a campaign in which I talk, tweet, and post about the Bears getting a legitimate WR1 via the upcoming NFL Draft existence. Manifesting this will be a challenge, but I’m up for it. And there are some intriguing options:

• It might take a couple of trade backs out of the first pick to make it happen. Or maybe it would be a situation where the Bears trade back into the first round to take their guy. But there are angles for this front office to take in order to draft a potential No. 1 receiver. As of right now, I don’t have a preferred target. Although, I’ll admit the idea of teaming Justin Fields and Jaxon Smith-Njigba again is alluring. We’ve seen old college chums reuniting the pros work out in a grand fashion with the Joe Burrow-Ja’Marr Chase team in Cincy and Jalen Hurts-DeVonta Smith tandem in Philly. Why not try for that kind of thing in Chicago?

• If you were looking forward to the Bears using free agency to further bolster the running backs room with a top free agent, I just want to let you know the top options are dwindling:

• I was down to roll the dice on Tony Pollard before the injury he suffered in the playoffs. And even though Jacobs didn’t truly take off until having a career year last season, the idea of adding the league’s leading rusher had its appeal. But both of those players won’t even make it onto the market. That leaves Saquon Barkley’s tag situation as the last one standing. Of course, that will be up in the air until the tag deadline buzzer on March 7 because the Giants are still working through the Daniel Jones issue. That quarterback tag is expensive, but Jones reportedly wants north of $40 million per year. What a mind-blowing number that would be. As the kids these days would say: Damn, Daniel!

• Maybe the Cowboys’ tag deployment leads to increased interest in tight end Dalton Schultz. Perhaps even the Bears get in on this. Don’t get me wrong. I’d still like for the Bears to extend Cole Kmet. But if they’re not paying big money to a top-flight receiver, an alternative would be to copycat the Patriots way with two quality tight ends who can contribute as blockers and receivers. It wouldn’t be the most popular path, but it is one that could conceivably work. Just something to keep an eye on.

• It seems like a good year to want or need a speedy cornerback:

• The Bears met with Illinois’ Devon Witherspoon, who is the self-proclaimed best CB in this draft.

• You’ve seen me reference my friend Jim’s recipes a bunch in Bullets. And now, he has a cookbook!

• Bummer. I hate reading about layoffs in the industry:

• The Blackhawks were busy dealing at the deadline:

• That Bulls-Suns game went as I would expect. And of course CP3 and Pat Bev were beefing:

• The Cubs are soooooo back:

• Happy Sweetness Day! Enjoy responsibly.