What will the Bears do with the No. 9 pick? – NBC Sports Chicago

With the No. 1 pick, the Bears have a franchise-altering decision on their hands. To either stick with Justin Fields or draft Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick will alter their franchise, whichever path they decide.

But what will the Bears do with the No. 9 pick? At minimum, like the No. 1 pick, they'll have several routes to take, should they choose to either use the pick on a prospect or trade it elsewhere.

Let's mull over all of their options.

Draft a prospect

Let's scratch off the most likely action the Bears take with the No. 9 pick --- using it.

What do they need most? A wide receiver, an edge rusher or a left tackle? All of those positions will be stocked with blue-chip prospects at the No. 9 pick. The only thing left to do is pick one of them.

In NBC Sports Chicago Alex Shaprio's most recent mock draft, he chalked up Illinois defensive tackle Jer'Zhan Newton with the No. 9 pick.

"The Bears loaded up at defensive tackle last year with Gervon Dexter and Zacch Pickens, but the best defensive lines in the NFL come at you in waves. If the team opts not to bring back Justin Jones, they’ll need to reload the position. Newton is a dynamic three-tech who can help plug up holes in the run game and create pressure in the pass game. His eight sacks were tied for second among interior defensive linemen. His 15.4% pass rush win rate was tied for eighth among interior linemen with at least 100 pass rush snaps. For his efforts, Newton won Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year."

In NBC Sports Chicago Glynn Morgan's most recent mock draft --- in which, he mocked the Bears trading the No. 1 pick to the Commanders --- he selected UCLA edge Laiatu Latu for the Bears' No. 9 pick.

"Standing at a robust six-foot-four and 265 pounds, Latu is a tremendous pass rusher with good acceleration and closing speed. He finished the 2023 campaign as the Pac-12 Defensive Player of the Year, having generated 21.5 tackles for loss along with 13 sacks."

In NFL draft expert Matt Miller's most recent mock draft, he had the Bears selecting offensive tackle Olumuyiwa Fashanu as the No. 9 pick in the draft.

"Bears left tackle Braxton Jones is a good but limited player; he will never be a top-five NFL left tackle. So with the top three receivers off the board, I’m looking at the loaded OT class. Fashanu is raw– he has been a starter for just 18 games in college– but he has excellent movement ability and a mean streak in the run game. He has the potential to become an elite NFL tackle, which is why Chicago skips reaching for a wide receiver or drafting a pass-rusher in favor of taking Fashanu as the best player available."

There will be a lot of strong options for the Bears to choose with their second first-round pick. Will they outweigh the idea of trading the pick either up or down? Let's talk about that next.

Use the No. 9 pick to trade up

There are a couple of reasons the Bears might want to trade the No. 9 pick. They did exactly that last season, trading the No. 1 pick for a haul including the No. 9 pick, then trading that pick to the Eagles (Jalen Carter) for the No. 10 pick (Darnell Wright) and a 2024 fourth-round selection.

This time around, they may either want to use the pick to trade up or move it down.

If the Bears select Caleb Williams with the No. 1 pick, as several pundits around the NFL expect them to do, Ryan Poles might feel the urge to keep the momentum going. By drafting Williams, the Bears first lose out on the chance to take Marvin Harrison Jr. --- the generational wide receiver out of Ohio State --- with that top pick.

But, if for some reason the Cardinals would be open to hearing offers for the No. 4 pick, the Bears could try and jump back up in the draft for that very reason. This would be a difficult move to pull off. Harrison Jr. is a coveted prospect in the draft and it would take a lot from the Bears to make that happen.

However, the Houston Texans did something similar last season, taking C.J. Stroud with the No. 2 pick, then trading up to the No. 3 pick to take Alabama edge rusher Will Anderson. For the No. 3 pick, the Texans gave the Arizona Cardinals the No. 12 and No. 33 selections in 2023, plus a 2024 first-round pick and 2024 third-round pick for the No. 105 selection.

That's a lot. Some saw that as an overpay for Anderson. But, for Harrison Jr., a similar price could be worth paying. It's a big jump from No. 9 to No. 4, but the Texans pulled off an even larger jump last season from No. 12 to No. 3 with that trade, even after drafting Stroud with the second pick.

Trade the No. 9 pick down

As it appears this early in the offseason, a combination of Caleb Williams, Drake Maye and maybe Jayden Daniels will go as the first three overall picks. There's no hiding it. The Bears, Commanders and Patriots all need quarterbacks. And unless one of those three teams looks to free agency, expect three quarterbacks to go first.

Between picks 4-8, a combination of wide receivers and tackles makes sense to go next. Washington wide receiver Rome Odunze, LSU receiver Malik Nabers, Notre Dame tackle Joe Alt, Penn State tackle Olu Fashanu, UCLA edge Laiatu Latu and even Georgia tight end Brock Bowers.

That means quarterbacks Michael Penix Jr., JJ McCarthy and Bo Nix will be undrafted past the No. 8 pick. Whichever way you map out the first eight picks, the likelihood of these three quarterbacks being available seems high.

That being said, let's take a look at the teams drafting after the Bears' No. 9 pick. At No. 11, the Minnesota Vikings; the Denver Broncos at No. 12; the Las Vegas Raiders at No. 13; the Seattle Seahawks at No. 16; the Pittsburgh Steelers at No. 20.

All of these teams need a new signal caller. One could argue Penix Jr. is a phenomenal draft option. Jim Harbaugh said during his opening press conference with the Chargers he could see McCarthy going first off the board. That's a hyperbole, but still, there are several solid options in the draft.

Could a bidding war surface for the Bears' No. 9 pick?

In a universe where the Bears take Williams with the No. 1 pick, they will be stripped of the satisfaction of recouping assets in a trade-down scenario. But if they can convey interest in their other first-round pick, they could, in theory, regain some of the assets they missed out on for not trading the first pick.

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