Four days ago, Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles said the following about trading the first overall pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, "No one's gonna rush me. I know I can get a '24 [first-round pick] and a '25 [first-round pick]. You're telling me for the next two years I'll have two ones? That's either four really good players, or if we're cruising, we can still trade back."
On Friday, Poles and the Bears got what they were looking from the Carolina Panthers, trading the No. 1 overall pick to a team that has been desperately searching for their first answer at quarterback since Cam Newton, who went to become the 2011 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year, 2015 NFL MVP, and a three-time Pro Bowler. The Bears received the Panthers ninth overall pick (first round) and their second-round pick (61st overall pick) in the 2023 draft as well as a 2024 first-round pick, a 2025 second-round pick, and 25-year-old wide receiver DJ Moore, according to CBS Sports NFL Insider Jonathan Jones. Friday's transaction marks the 13th time the first overall pick has been traded in the common draft era (since 1967) either before, during or after the draft.
The Panthers will now be making only their second all-time selection using the first overall pick with Newton in 2011 serving as their team's only player taken to start the draft. New Panthers head coach Frank Reich had a different starting quarterback in Week 1 for five consecutive seasons, and the Panthers rotated through quarterbacks like Teddy Bridgewater, Sam Darnold, Baker Mayfield, Kyle Allen, and P.J. Walker in recent years. Both the franchise and its head coach can have their preferred choice of Alabama's Bryce Young, Ohio State's C.J. Stroud, Kentucky's Will Levis or Florida's Anthony
