Heavy

● By Jordan J. Wilson
The Chicago Bears have made it through the first wave of 2024 NFL free agency and are now beginning to turn their full attention toward the 2024 NFL draft that begins next month on April 25. What better time for a mock draft? The Bears are lighter on draft picks than they were in the first two years of Ryan Poles’ tenure as general manager. In the past two weeks, they have traded a fourth-round pick for wide receiver Keenan Allen and a fifth-rounder for interior lineman Ryan Bates. They also dealt their second-round pick in October for star edge rusher Montez Sweat. Even still, the Bears can accomplish quite a bit with the four draft picks they own, two of which are in the top 10 of the first round. Here is my first attempt — version 1.0 — to predict what the Bears will do based on what we know after free agency’s first week: