The Incredible Shrinking QB Pool

With another veteran starting QB removed from the pool, the top pick in the draft held by the Bears only gains more value.

Should Tom Brady's retirement actually stick this time, the end result for the Bears could be more value for the first pick in the 2023 NFL Draft.

It had already been assumed Brady would be leaving Tampa as a free agent, so the Bears wouldn't be facing him when they travel to face the Buccaneers in 2023. So the Brady decision Wednesday to retire will mean nothing in this regard.

However, there were any number of potential target teams in need of a starter.

Now, one starter has been removed from the pool for desperate teams and they become even more desperate.

One of the teams most often mentioned as a landing spot for Brady was the Las Vegas Raiders. It had been suggested he only had to say he wanted to go there and the contract was his. 

Now, if the Raiders want to move up to No. 1 in the draft for a quarterback, it will be costly for them because they're all the way back at No. 7.

It's entirely possible one of the three QBs mentioned most often as top prospects—Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud and Will Levis—won't be available at No. 7. There's always kissing and making up with Derek Carr if they're not willing to trade up.

The trade up to No. 1 would mean a difference of 1,500 points must be made up on the value chart used by teams in such deals. That's the equivalent of giving the Bears the seventh pick overall, as well as the Raiders' second, third and fourth-rounders this year and a first- and fifth-rounder next year.

Free agency begins March 13 with the legal tampering period and it can all be sorted out long before the draft.

So the Raiders have about six weeks to try to swing a deal with Green Bay for Aaron Rodgers, who turns 40 in December. Or they can sign Jimmy Garoppolo in free agency.

Or they can wait and trade up and pay a heavy price to the Bears or one of the other teams right after them in the draft, like Arizona.

Possibly the only thing that could make the pick more valuable is if Rodgers retires and Garoppolo stays in San Francisco. 

Whatever happens, the veteran quarterback pool has been reduced by one and this adds greater value to the first pick in the draft.

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