Would Seahawks fans support a trade with Bears for number one pick?

Should Seattle use their power to make their own choice? Seaside Joe 1421

I don’t know what the Houston Texans are waiting for, they need to eventually bite the bullet and trade up with the Chicago Bears for the number one pick. Here’s why:

Despite how frustrating it must be for the Texans that the Bears slid over them for the number one pick, Houston should not let another team choose their quarterback for them. That’s exactly what will happen if the Texans let the Colts, Seahawks, Lions, or a different team trade over them for a quarterback in the 2023 NFL Draft.

Now look, I have already argued that maybe the NFL will not value the 2023 QB class as much as fans/media are talking about right now. But for the sake of talking about the class—and because I still believe that Bryce Young is worth going first overall regardless—let’s act as though the 2023 class is on par with the 2020 group.

Three years ago, I think there was a comparable class with Joe Burrow, Tua Tagovailoa, and Justin Herbert leading the discussions. Burrow was not considered a slam dunk to go first at this time in 2020, but soon enough he had convinced everyone that he was as good as his final season at LSU.

Burrow has been better than Herbert, and a lot better than Tua.

Trevor Lawrence has been better than Zach Wilson and Trey Lance. Kyler Murray, while not great, has been better than Daniel Jones.

Andrew Luck was a lot better than Robert Griffin III. Cam Newton better than Jake Locker, Blaine Gabbert. Matthew Stafford, better than Mark Sanchez.

There are always going to be exceptions and sometimes it is better to wait. Maybe you’ll fall backwards into Russell Wilson. Sometimes you’ve just got Mitchell Trubisky sitting ahead of Patrick Mahomes and Deshaun Watson. Or Baker Mayfield and Sam Darnold ahead of Josh Allen.

But in general I think it is better for a team to decide for themselves rather than to say, in the case of say the 2016 Eagles or 2021 49ers, “Well, we’re trading up into the top-three for whichever QB is leftover.”

So I think the Texans just have to bite the bullet and tell the Bears: “We’ll trade you picks 2 and 33 and then you can still trade down again for another bounty” because that’s exactly what will happen. The Bears, who traded pick 32 for Chase Claypool already, can get back an early second round pick and basically lose no position in their trade discussions. Sure, they might be able to leverage a team into more draft capital in return, but if I’m Houston, I’m doing all I can to try and secure the number one overall pick so I’m not counting on the GM of another team to tell me which QB “I get” to keep.

The Bears could still trade down from 2 to 4, 5, 6, 7, etc. and potentially land future first round picks in 2024 and 2025 after leveraging the Texans into the equal of a late first rounder in 2023.

I just do not believe that there are ever two QB prospects who are “equal” in the eyes of a GM. Because if the GM had the number one pick, he’d surely have to choose one of them and that means there is always a preference. Houston has the greatest chance to trade up to one, so as soon as they have a head coach, that’s what they should do.

But if they don’t…should the Seahawks trade up to one?

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