Chicago Bears 2024 Draft Picks Analysis & Grades

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By Ha Kung Wong

Twitter: @FBGarbageTime

Round 1

Pick 1 (1)

Caleb Williams – QB – USC

The last time the Bears had a “franchise quarterback” was Sid Luckman all the way back in the 1940’s. And although some might think that Jay Cutler qualified as a “franchise quarterback”, but in his 8-year tenure he had just one division title and playoff appearance. Heck, in the last two decades, the Bears have only 5 total playoff appearances, so there hasn’t been much to root for in Chicago. But that might change in 2024.

Caleb Williams has been the consensus top QB among NFL Draft pundits over the last several months, and it’s no wonder as he was ranked top 10 in the FBS with 170.1 passing efficiency, 30 passing TDs, 9.4 yards per attempt and 3,633 passing yards and also led USC with 11 rushing TDs, resulting in him being a Finalist for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award (nation’s top QB). The fact that he was as productive passing as he was scrambling definitely raised some eyebrows. And on top of that, he was a great leader and community contributor off the field starting the Caleb Cares Foundation for anti-bullying, mental health awareness and youth development. If anything, one thing he was known for was pinpoint accuracy, but adding in the scrambling ability and the quick transition when running an RPO means that can get better.

Caleb Williams Passing Stats
Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass Pass
Year School G Cmp Att Pct Yds TD Int Rate
*2021 Oklahoma 11 136 211 64.5 1912 21 4 169.6
*2022 USC 14 333 500 66.6 4537 42 5 168.5
*2023 USC 12 266 388 68.6 3633 30 5 170.1
Career Overall 735 1099 66.9 10082 93 14 169.3
Oklahoma 136 211 64.5 1912 21 4 169.6
USC 599 888 67.5 8170 72 10 169.2

The Bears did exactly what they needed to do to take advantage of Williams’ strengths by giving him free agent D’Andre Swift, who is coming off his first 1,000-yard rushing season and earned his first Pro Bowl bid last year. Not only does shoring up the ground game help relieve pressure, but Swift has been terrific catching the ball out of the backfield, giving Williams a terrific escape hatch. In addition, the Bears supplemented DJ Moore, who’s coming off his best season to date, and Cole Kmet, who’s also just had his best year to date, with Keenan Allen, a savvy veteran that offers consistency and coming off his 6th season with more than 1,000 receiving yards. And I won’t even mention the addition of Rome Odunze in the draft, which makes this potentially the most talented receiving core in Chicago since Brandon Marshall and Alshon Jeffery over a decade ago.

Williams has a 76.0% career-adjusted completion percentage, which is the highest among the top 3 QB prospects in the draft. Add this to all the added targets and Williams has all the tools necessary for success in his first year. All of this makes his selection by the Bears at the top of the draft a no-brainer.

GRADE: A

Pick 9 (9)

Rome Odunze – WR – Washington

After grabbing their QB of the future, the Bears further help him to find success by adding a consensus top 3 WR target in Rome Odunze.

Rome Odunze Receiving & Rushing Stats
Rece Rece Rece Rece Rush Rush Rush Rush
Year School G Rec Yds Avg TD Att Yds Avg TD
2020 Washington 4 6 72 12.0 0 3 -16 -5.3 0
2021 Washington 9 41 415 10.1 4 2 13 6.5 0
*2022 Washington 12 75 1145 15.3 7 3 6 2.0 1
*2023 Washington 15 92 1640 17.8 13 2 37 18.5 1
Career Washington 214 3272 15.3 24 10 40 4.0 2

Odunze was a team captain and WR1 at Washington who led the FBS with a school-record 1,640 receiving yards adding 13 receiving TDs, which resulted in being named first-team Associated Press All-American, first-team All-Pac-12 Conference and a finalist for the Biletnikoff Award (nation’s top WR). Perhaps more importantly, he helped lead Washington to the College Football Championships in the last season of the Pac-12. He’s got great speed, solid ability to separate from coverage and terrific contested ball skills.

As mentioned above, adding him to Moore, Allen and Kmet makes it tough for opposing defenses to key on any one target. And it’s clear that Williams and Odunze already have a solid connection starting from Williams fan-boying over Odunze being on his flight to Detroit and carrying through Williams surprising Odunze during his media availability.

Of course, Odunze was a presumptive WR1 in the draft, and it will be yet to be determined what impact he’ll have on the field with both Allen and Moore already likely to account for 50%-plus of total targets. If nothing else, it’s a great investment in the future, as Odunze may graduate to WR1 status in future seasons.

GRADE: B+

Round 3

Pick 11 (75)

Kiran Amegadjie – OT – Yale

The Bears have veteran Braxton Jones at their left tackle spot and Darnell Wright as their right tackle, but in light of the issues the offensive line has last season, they could use more depth. Kiran Amegadjie is the perfect pick, in part because he’s a local from Hinsdale Central High School in the Chicago suburbs and he loves the Bears. He’s a 6-foot-5 tackle weighing 323 pounds and has an incredible reach with 36 1/8-inch arms, second longest among offensive linemen at the Combine. He had 24 consecutive starts at Yale playing primarily left tackle and right guard and importantly allowed just one sack and five QB hits over the course of three seasons.

Whether it’s as a rotational player at guard or the future at left tackle, Amegadjie was a solid value pick for the Bears in Round 3.

GRADE: B+

Round 4

Pick 26 (122)

Tory Taylor – P – Iowa

I get it that field position is important in close games but taking a punter in the 4th Round is nearly unheard of. The last time a punter went in the 4th Round was in 2019 when the San Francisco 49ers took Mitch Wishnowsky. And the last time a punter was drafted in the 3rd round was 2012. And seeing as how Ryan Poles drafted Trenton Gill in 2022, who averaged 46.1 yards per punt and 38.5 net yards in his two seasons, this didn’t appear to be a huge need.

That being said, Tory Taylor was the Ray Guy Award winner as the nation’s top punter in 2023 after setting the NCAA single-season yardage record with 4,479 yards on 93 punts in 2023. He had a career average of 46.3 yards per punt, averaging 48.2 yards in 2023. He had 103 punts of more than 50 yards in his career. He’s clearly the best punter in the draft, so I also understand how the Bears convinced themselves to draft him. But at then end of the day, I’d rather they had spent this pick on an edge rusher.

GRADE: C

Round 5

Pick 16 (144)

Austin Booker – DL – Kansas

Getting an edge rusher was definitely on the list for the Bears, and they traded back into the draft to take Austin Booker. Booker played 18 games in college and in his one season at Kansas after transferring from Minnesota, Booker had eight sacks and 12 tackles for a loss. Booker probably won’t push for starting snaps opposite Montez Sweat, but he could play a rotational role behind both Sweat and DeMarcus Walker. He’s got a great motor, but he’s fairly raw in terms of skillset and hasn’t proven to be a good run stopper, so I’d assume he’ll see limited snaps this season as he continues to develop. I would have preferred the Bears pick up an edge in Round 4, but there’s certainly some good upside here.

GRADE: B

 

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