Bears Trade Top Overall Pick to Panthers

The Carolina Panthers traded up to the first overall pick in the 2023 draft with the Chicago Bears (per Ian Rapoport).

The trade details are as follows:

Carolina Panthers receive:

• First pick in the 2023 draft

Chicago Bears receive:

• Ninth and 61st selections in the 2023 draft
• 2024 first round pick
• 2025 second round pick
• WR D.J Moore

This is a massive trade to state the obvious. Chicago was reported to be out of the market for a quarterback and were eyeing a trade out of the first overall pick. Carolina didn’t hire Frank Reich for no reason, after all. Carolina now gets the chance to select the quarterback of their choice and Chicago gets much needed draft capital and a star wide receiver in D.J. Moore for Justin Fields.

The Panthers and their owner David Tepper were very interested in making a big splash this offseason and are desperate for a quarterback and now they have that chance. It’s a pay to play game in the NFL and Carolina paid a big price to jump the Houston Texans to get the quarterback they want. It’s still too early to say who Carolina will take but the Panthers have now set the market value for trading up if other teams are interested in doing so.

From the Chicago Bears perspective, this was inevitable. From the moment the front office said Justin Fields was their guy at quarterback everyone knew a trade back was going to happen. Going from pick one to pick nine is a fair ways back but they will still get to address a position of need with a top 10 selection. Chicago is now in the same position the Giants were when the Bears traded up to select Justin Fields. Fields gets a true number one receiver in D.J. Moore, Chicago gets plenty of picks and are still in a position to draft an elite player, general manager Ryan Poles has to be happy with this return.

Now for the bad news: this was always the nightmare scenario for the Houston Texans. They get jumped by another quarterback-needy team and no longer control their own destiny. Carolina will now get first dibs on the quarterbacks and Houston can only hope they don’t select their guy. The Texans were in no position to give up meaningful picks to move up one spot but it does hurt to get jumped like this. For fans and the Texans brass, it’s painful to put our future in the hands of another franchise to hope they mess up and select the wrong guy but this is the hand we’ve been dealt.

It’s always a risk to move up and trade as many assets as the Panthers did but now Carolina controls their own fate and can shape their own future with good scouting and development. This trade could either been seen as a catastrophic flop in the future or as a franchise altering move but only time will tell. Let me know your thoughts on the trade in the comments and do you wish the Texans would’ve pulled the trigger on a trade like this at a lesser cost.