With the NFL season wrapping up on Sunday, the Chicago Bears will now turn their focus to the offseason, and they now know where they will be picking in this spring’s NFL Draft.
By virtue of their loss to the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, the Bears secured the third overall pick in the draft. The selection will be their highest since the 1972 Draft, when they selected offensive tackle Lionel Antoine out of Southern Illinois University.
The Cleveland Browns, whom finished the season with a 1-15 record, will pick first at the annual selection show, which will take place beginning on Apr. 27 in Philadelphia. The San Francisco 49’ers, who finished the season with a 2-14 record, will pick second ahead of the Bears.
Needless to say, the Bears will have plenty of options worth considering with the number three pick, and they could address a lot of different position needs. They could go with a quarterback, as North Carolina product Mitch Trubisky is currently considered the best quarterback in the class. They could also go with an elite pass rusher, as Texas A&M star Myles Garrett and Alabama stalwart Jonathan Stewart are both projected to go in the top five.
The Bears could also go with one of the top-tier cornerbacks available in the draft, as Quincy Wilson out of Florida and Marshon Lattimore out of Ohio State are considered two of the top corners and both are projected to be picked in the top 10.
Whatever the Bears decide to do, they will have some time to make the determinations after the NFL Combine, which takes place at the end of February, and after the start of free agency, which begins in March.
Here are the Top 10 picks in the NFL Draft order:
Local
1 Cleveland Browns
2 San Francisco 49’ers
3 Chicago Bears
4 Jacksonville Jaguars
5 Tennessee Titans (from LA Rams)
6 New York Jets
7 San Diego Chargers
8 Carolina Panthers
9 Cincinnati Bengals
10 Buffalo Bills
The Bears will have a total of seven draft picks going into the draft, having picked up an extra fourth round pick in a swap last year with the Buffalo Bills and having traded away their sixth round pick in a trade with the Houston Texans that brought Khari Lee to Chicago.
