The Chicago Bears and Houston Texans could’ve changed the entire direction of the upcoming NFL draft after they were engaged about a trade involving the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NFL draft.
The Chicago Bears were awarded the No. 1 overall pick based on their terrible record, but since the team has faith in Justin Fields to lead them, they would decide to trade that pick to the Carolina Panthers for a massive haul, giving them wide receiver D.J. Moore in the process.
According to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, the Bears were close to dealing the pick to the Houston Texans before taking the Panthers deal.
“The evidence I have comes down to Houston’s efforts to go up to No.1 — at one point, the Texans and Bears were closing in on a deal that’d have the teams flipping spots, with Chicago then doing a deal with Carolina to drop from No.2 to 9. Houston got a little uncomfortable with it in the end, and the Bears moved forward in doing their deal with the Panthers.”
The Houston Texans could’ve avoided all of this by simply not winning their final game of the season, but former head coach Lovie Smith likely knew he was on his way out of town.
That win cost the Texans the No. 1 overall draft pick, as Chicago ended the year with a slightly worse record of 3-14 compared to Houston’s 3-13-1. After the trade with the Panthers, Chicago landed the No. 9 picks in 2023 as well as a first-rounder in the 2024 NFL Draft.
Click on ‘Follow Us’ and get notified of the most viral NFL stories via Google! Follow Us
The Texans simply didn’t have anything to offer on the level of a wideout like Moore. The 25-year-old wide receiver had three straight 1,000-yard receiving seasons before catching 63 passes for 888 yards and seven touchdowns in 2022.
