Bear Digest

Chicago Bears Biggest 2024 NFL Draft Winners and Losers

Those who came out big winners because of the moves made by the Chicago Bears in the 2024 draft and those who did not.
Gene Chamberlain|
The Bears have a quarterback who can throw and likes to smile at press conferences.
The Bears have a quarterback who can throw and likes to smile at press conferences. | David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

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Ryan Poles' face reflected exhausted relief, if anything.

It was over Sunday, the small, top-heavy 2024 draft ended and he had the passer, a receiver, then depth and even a punter.

It was a big list of items for so small a number of picks.

"Everything fell into place," Poles said. "I would have never guessed that it lined up the way that it did, so we're all excited."

It needed a push to line it up, mainly from Poles by using his final pick, then coming back into the draft from the trap door or rear door or whatever door, with a 2025 pick so he could get pass rusher Austin Booker.

As a result, there is change. Change begets change in the NFL.

The changes from Sunday created winners and losers on the Bears roster. Here are the biggest winners and losers.

Winners

1. Caleb Williams

What better situation for a rookie than to come to a team where they've fully loaded up on receivers of all types, where the offensive line looks intact and has depth? They have an offensive coordinator who apprently can work with quarterbacks because he revived the career of Geno Smith from status as a journeyman backup. Few first overall picks who are quarterbacks go to teams who won as many as the Bears did last year. In fact there have been 27 No. 1 picks who were QBs since the merger and only three wound up with teams who had as many as seven wins. Only five went to teams with more than three wins. So Williams is indeed fortunate. And what better for a quarterback than to go to a city where he'll be appreciated. As they say, there is a very low bar in Chicago for quarterbacks.

2. DJ Moore

Remember when Moore ran downfield against Atlanta and Justin Fields put one in over the top right in his hands for a huge gain on a cover-2 beater near the sidelines? He did it a few times that game in a 37-17 win. It was the kind of thing you'd think you could see more of if Fields did it one game. It will happen more because this is Caleb Williams' specialty. He drops in those aerial bombs from high altitude with touch, whether from the pocket or on the move. Moore gets half a step on someone and the ball can come in from any arm angle or regardless of the direction Fields is moving. Moore gained 1,300 yards last year. It might be tough to get as many with so many yards now with so many potential targets, but he'll have chances for bigger plays constantly with defenses spread out looking for Rome Odunze or Keenan Allen.

3. Rome Odunze

Besides the fact he has a new friend now in Williams, the Washington rookie goes to a team where he won't be under as much pressure to learn the art of NFL route running. It's only in this area where scouts had questions about his abilities. He'll be on a team where he can pick the mind of two receivers who have done this one Sunday after another throughout their careers. And how many rookie receivers can go where the first pick of the draft is? For Odunze, it's a little like the receiver group the Seahawks had under new Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldren.

4. Keenan Allen

This is a receiver who gets open late on plays and needs little room for contested catches of various types. It's exactly what a quarterback who has held the ball a long time on a play needs. The extended play will work for big gains in the passing game now and Allen can be expected to be one of the key contributors. Holding ... looking ... no one is open, but Williams will know he can almost always get it on a short route out of the slot to Allen. This is a guy who's always open, and it should be easier for him to get open with receives as capable as Moore and Odunze as alternate targets.

5. Cole Kmet

Normally Kmet made catches with two or three defenders draped on him because the ball didn't come out in time to the open spot. He's still been extremely productive but with the field opened up by a strong group of wide receivers and with a quarterback who had a strong performance record when he did throw from within the pocket, the runaway truck Kmet looked like in college might show up more often now.

6. Shane Waldron

The new Bears offensive coordinator had to suffer through the end to Russell Wilson's time in Seattle and resurrected Smith's career and still had team passer ratings of 103.1, 100 and 90.7. Now he'll get a talented rookie he can mold from the very first day. Waldron last year had three wide receivers for targets in DK Metcalf, Tyler Lockett and Jaxon Smith Njigba. Now he'll operate with Moore, Allen and Odunze. Some guys have all the luck.

7. Matt Eberflus

The potential for enough wins to make the playoffs and go beyond Round 1 exists if you have a quarterback who is capable of leading a team from behind late in games. Building an explosive offense would mean he can have leads to play back in zone and avoid blitzing. Those are exactly the ways he wants to play his scheme.

Draft Losers

1. Braxton Jones

Some might view Jones as a winner because the Bears didn't use their ninth pick to draft a tackle. Surprise. He's a loser now. Depending on your viewpoint, he comes out of it a loser, anyway. The addition of Kiran Amegadjie means he'll have a tackle drafted higher than he was competing for his starting job. Amegadjie was the third-round pick. When the Bears drafted Jones, one of the big strengths he had was those 35 3/8-inch arms, top 8% among tackles at combines. Guess what, now he's facing competition from a tackle with 36 1/8-inch arms, top 95% in arm length. That's not a win.

2. Trenton Gill

Their punter might be spotted at an O'Hare ticket counter soon after the Aussie phenom, Tory Taylor, was drafted in Round 4.

3. Velus Jones Jr.

The addition of Odunze pushes him another rung down as an option and possibly even off the roster. He still has value as a kick returner but backup running back Khalil Herbert used to do this, as well.

4. Dominique Robinson

When the GM describes fifth-round 2024 draft pick Austin Booker as a 21-year-old who will have time to grow into his body and role within a new defense as an edge rusher, and you're the guy they said this about in 2022 as a fifth-rounder and you've made two sacks since coming into the league, it's time to worry.

5. Tyler Scott

The second-year wide receiver would have been the next choice as the third option in some offensive sets and now he'll be buried in the depth chart. The good news for Scott is he can learn from both Allen and Moore while he tries to make an impact on special teams and in situations with four wideouts on the field.

6. Dante Pettis 

They signed him back for one year after he had been a more effective punt returner in 2022 than Trent Taylor was last year. Guess what? Odunze has punt return ability. Washington wasn't going to use their No. 1 receiver all the time at this and he only returned three, but one broke for a TD. He'll only be third receiver for the Bears and might get the Tim Brown treatment.

7. Green Bay Packers

Checkmate.

Published
Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.