Joel Klatt reveals what he believes Chicago Bears will do with Justin Fields, No. 1 pick

Super Bowl Sunday has come and gone, and the 2024 NFL Draft is rearing its head. That means it’s time for the Chicago Bears to make a decision with the No. 1 overall pick.

To ring in the official start to the offseason, Fox Sports’ Joel Klatt revealed his NFL Mock Draft 1.0 — and put to rest whether or not the Bears should move forward with Justin Fields, or take USC‘s Caleb Williams with the first pick.

“I truly believe Chicago is going to end up trading Justin Fields and going with Caleb Williams number one with the quarterback from USC,” Klatt said on Wednesday. “I know that this is widely consensus, but there’s there’s a lot of things that make sense in this pick for me. Number one is the talent of Caleb Williams. That can’t be overlooked.

“We have seen, for two years now, this guy be the closest thing to Patrick Mahomes that we’ve seen come through college football since Patrick Mahomes. And in so many ways, he’s even more polished. And at least in college, better than even Mahomes was at Texas Tech.”

In 2023, Williams passed for 3,633 yards and 30 touchdowns, with five interceptions this season. He added 11 rushing touchdowns.

Those stats were impressive, but his numbers could not rival 2022’s when Williams won the Heisman after passing for more than 4,500 yards and 42 touchdowns. Prior to coming to USC, Williams started his career at Oklahoma where in the 2021 season, he passed for 1,912 yards and 21 touchdowns, while playing a limited number of snaps.

Even with Williams expected to be selected No. 1 overall, the question remains on whether the Chicago Bears will be the team to ultimately draft him with the firsts pick. Many have suggested trades to the Washington Commanders, among other scenarios, but we won’t know until it’s closer to draft time.

Despite all of the scenarios that could happen, Klatt insists that instead of trading away No. 1, they’ll likely be saying goodbye their current QB1.

“This is not an indictment on Fields — and I don’t think that this is a conversation or an evaluation between the two specific players because the details surrounding these players are so vastly different,” Klatt said of the two quarterbacks. “Remember, you’re looking at Fields entering the fourth year of a rookie deal, and now you’re gonna have to make a decision. Are you signing him to a long long term contract? Why not start the rookie contract clock over?

“I think that’s more beneficial than anything. So you’ve got to evaluate that as part of the evaluation between a guy like Caleb Williams and Justin Fields. Mainly because that is why I think Chicago should move forward, go back to the first year of a rookie contract, continue to get more draft picks by trading Justin Fields and going with Caleb Williams and number one.”