The Chicago Bears officially locked up the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft in Week 17 and now will face the most important decision in franchise history.

The Bears will be in possession of the number one overall pick in the NFL Draft for the second consecutive year. In 2023, the Bears traded the first pick in the draft to the Carolina Panthers in exchange for wide receiver DJ Moore and four future picks, including the 2024 first overall pick.

Will the Bears follow a same approach in 2024 or will the team select the top player with the first overall pick and potentially trade away starting quarterback Justin Fields?

It's a tough decision that will have to soon be made by Bears general manager Ryan Poles and the rest of the team's front office. However, that decision might have cleared up just a little bit earlier this week.

ESPN senior NFL reporter Jeremy Fowler and staff writer Courtney Cronin dropped some news on Tuesday that might make the Bears upcoming decision just a little easier to consider.

According to the report, if the Bears traded the first overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft for the second consecutive season, "several executives agree Chicago could net more than it did in the Panthers trade" from the year prior.

In 2023, the Bears traded down from #1 to #9 in the draft with the Panthers moving up. This time around, those same executives feel the Bears could get "two future first-rounders on top of this year's pick, along with a variation of a Day 2 pick and/or a premium veteran player" from teams within the first five selections.

The difference between 2023 and 2024 is simple. The 2024 NFL Draft class is loaded with top end talent at the quarterback position, including the top two prospects at the position Caleb Williams and Drake Maye, with multiple teams expecting to climb over each other to secure their next franchise quarterback.

Therefore, more teams will be willing to jump up the draft board and will offer up a egregious return to do so. In this scenario, the Bears could slide back just a few spots in the draft, acquire a kings ransom while doing so, and still manage to come away with a top non-quarterback prospect to add to the roster while retaining Fields for at least another season. That's option one. 

Option two is finding a trade partner to acquire Fields before the draft, receive decent but lesser return, and instead hand pick the Bears successor at the quarterback position with the top pick in the draft.

But how much less of a return will the Bears receive in scenario two? According to ESPN the report, if the Bears traded Fields to another team, the Bears would receive a second or third-round pick according to "a consensus in an informal poll of league evaluators."

It's a striking difference in return but in exchange, the Bears come away with their top quarterback in the class while resetting the clock in terms of having to dish out a massive quarterback contract in the near future. The Bears could then use the funds elsewhere to acquire more talent throughout the roster or by spending it on their young stars with upcoming extensions.

As you can tell, it's going to be an extremely tough and franchise altering decision to make. The Bears fans and current players have all stated their own opinions on the decision but the opinions of the front office will be the only ones that truly matter.

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