The 2022 NFL season hasn’t even started, but there are plenty of people picking the Chicago Bears to have a top draft pick in 2023. There are even some who are making a bold prediction that the Bears will be the worst team in the league.
Touchdown Wire’s Mark Schofield revealed his “way too early” 2023 NFL mock draft, which finds the Bears landing a top wide receiver for Justin Fields. Schofield has Chicago drafting Ohio State’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba with the eighth overall selection. (See, there are some who don’t think the Bears are going to be the worst team in the league in 2022.)
For the past few weeks, Chicago Bears fans have been wondering whether first-year general manager Ryan Poles did enough for Justin Fields this off-season.
Perhaps one of the top returning receivers to college football this season would be a welcome addition?
Even playing with Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave last season, Jaxon Smith-Njigba put up big numbers for the Ohio State offense, catching 15 passes in two separate game and setting a pair of records in the Rose Bowl, when both Wilson and Olave sat out to prepare for the draft. That one-game performance might be a preview of what Smith-Njigba will do in the year ahead.
Smith-Njigba has been a popular target for the Bears in these early 2023 mock drafts. And for good reason. Outside of Darnell Mooney, there are a lot of question marks at wide receiver. Although guys like Byron Pringle and third-round rookie Velus Jones Jr. are intriguing players to watch.
The Bears currently have $99 million in projected salary cap space in 2023, which gives GM Ryan Poles the money to find a top wideout in free agency. But he could also add to that receivers room in the NFL draft, where someone like Smith-Njigba would add to Fields’ potential arsenal of weapons.
