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The Chicago Bears had a strange approach to the 2017 draft. Nothing was more confusing than their decision to sacrifice three picks to move up one spot, from No. 3 to No. 2, in a reach to get North Carolina quarterback Mitchell Trubisky.
Trubisky has the tools to develop into a viable NFL starter, but the Bears are paying Mike Glennon $18.5 million dollars to start this year. It was hasty to sacrifice additional picks to move up to draft another quarterback when the Bears have glaring needs elsewhere on the roster.
Worse, the Bears probably didn’t need to trade up to get Trubisky at all. He would have been there waiting for them with the third overall pick on Thursday night.
The MMQB’s Peter King was in San Francisco’s war room and witnessed the Niners’ end of that transaction.
Prior to the draft, the Niners had floated the possibility of selecting Trubisky second overall. We said at the time it looked like a smokescreen, and that’s exactly what it turned out to be.
The top three players on the Niners’ draft board were Myles Garrett, who the Browns ended up taking with the first overall pick, Solomon Thomas, and Reuben Foster. 49ers general manager John Lynch knew early Thursday that the Browns were most likely going to take Garrett with the first pick.
Before the draft, the Bears and Niners reached a tentative agreement to make a trade if the player the Bears wanted was still on the board after Cleveland picked. Lynch thought Chicago wanted Thomas, and was comfortable with taking Foster with the third pick. 49ers’ chief strategy officer, Paraag Marathe, felt confident the Bears were targeting Trubisky when they called about trading up.
“Then why’d they go get [free-agent quarterback Mike] Glennon?” general manager John Lynch asked.
It’s the same question a lot of people are asking ... maybe even Bears head coach John Fox. He reportedly didn’t know the team was trading up for Trubisky, and the deal may have exposed rifts in Chicago’s front office.
"We don't know what the hell they were doing," an unnamed team executive told CBS Sports’ Jason LaCanfora. "It's all anyone is talking about. It's really bad between Pace and Fox. Fox is fuming about being left in the dark on the trade (for Trubisky). I don't know anyone who likes their draft.”
Maybe the Trubisky pick will surprise us and work out just fine for Chicago. Right now, it feels like the Bears don’t really know what they’re doing.