How did the Chicago Bears stack up against the rest of the NFC North in the 2024 NFL Draft? FOX 32’s Cassie Carlson hosts 1st and North, where the panel assess each draft from each NFC North team and takes a look back at the 2024 NFL Draft.
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welcome into first in North the NFL draft is over so all of the speculation is put to the side and now we turn our focus into development and how the rookies will change each team’s 2024 season I’m Cassie Carlson joined by Dan Miller from Fox 2 in Detroit Amad Hicks from Fox 9 in Minneapolis and Lily from Fox 6 in Milwaukee and guys I’m excited to discuss the draft from this past weekend and Dan I want to go to you first first off credit to Detroit for hosting the draft and setting the attendance record more than 7 75,000 people over the 3 days I give you the floor to brag about your city you know what I I can remember four years ago uh I was at an event Roger Goodell was in town I was on stage with Alliance team president Rod Wood and Rod was kind of joking with the commissioner hey we’d love to host the draft and you know there were conversations that went on from then a lot of work went into the bid to finally two years ago have it announced that Detroit would get the draft and then an incredible amount of work began just get everything in place to host 775,000 people and to bring one of the biggest events in allive sports to Detroit and you know what I I think everybody here is just so proud of the way things went not just the attendance numbers but the way they handled the crowd the way the city looked you know to millions and millions of people that watched across the country uh it was just really a great weekend for Detroit it was a two-prong thing as we’re all in the news business it was the city of Detroit hosting this and then there was the story we cover every year which is the draft and the Lions trying to get better but it it was a really really positive moment for Detroit and one that they hope sets them up for other big events going forward and now Green Bay’s on the clock cuz we’re coming your way next year well I know that Detroit has a lot of pride in their Lions but I do want to start with the Chicago Bears because they were the first ones on the clock with the number one overall pick and obviously they drafted Caleb Williams we were all expecting this for a long time here in Chicago but now that it’s finally here and to get a sense of the excitement and what it actually means to the city he broke Caitlyn Clark’s draft night merch sales record and he said he had Bears fans to thank for that Ryan PS first started paying close attention to Williams after a Texas Oklahoma game in 20201 he knew he wanted to draft him after his top 30 visit early in April and Williams was expecting this for the last 12 years he’s been preparing for this moment so he said he watched way more bears games this past season than ever before and obviously there’s excitement for that but then pair that with the bear surrounding him with even more weapons selecting Washington wide receiver romad dun with their second first round pick not over complicating things which the Bears typically do taking the two best players available and bolstering their offense and Ryan P said if you were to tell him he’d wind up with those two a couple weeks ago he would tell you you are absolutely crazy his assistant GM Ian Cunningham had to hold him back from Trading up to get a Dun who was a big body receiver led the NCAA in receiving yards last year set several school records and now is joining what is we consider a stacked wide receiver room pairing him with DJ Moore and also Keenan Allen who he can learn from Ryan PS called this an impact draft for the Bears they took huge strides forward and Amad I want to go to you now because I think the Bears were the winners of the draft in my opinion but the Vikings also nailed it they trade up to take quarterback JJ McCarthy out of Michigan he’s also a Chicagoland guy and then trade up again to select pass rusher Dallas Turner out of Alabama what’s been the reaction to those moves in Minneapolis well you know people here in Minneapolis they can tend to over uh think or you know celebrate a little bit too early so after those first initial draft picks in the first round some fans were already talking about Super Bowl in the next couple of years that’s how high they are on JJ McCarthy and Dallas Turner the thing I loved about general manager quac DOA Menon for the Minnesota Vikings he did not mortgage the future essentially to go up and go get JJ McCarthy everyone had the Vikings given up not only their 11th overall pick but the number 23 overall pick to go get a quarterback instead all they had to do was move up one with the New York Jets gave up a couple of late round picks in this year’s draft to get their guy in JJ McCarthy and then they just swap picks with the Jacksonville Jaguars scoring from 23 to 17 to move up and get one of the best Edge rushers in college football this past season and Dallas Turner Brian Flores joked the other day when he sat down to meet his new Edge rusher in Dallas Turner and he said D I didn’t think we were going to get you I had no idea you would still be on the board so I think the Vikings hit a home run in the first round they got somebody to replace denil Hunter and go on the opposite side of Jonathan grenard and they also went and got their quarterback which we all know he may not have to start this year because they’re still Sam Darnell on the roster so overall Home Run for the Vikings draft you know but I still don’t think that there’s Super Bowl contenders just yet like some fans here in Minneapolis tend to believe we’re talking Super Bowl in Chicago too we all love to overreact all these draft picks and you mentioned Dallas Turner a lot of Bears fans were hoping he would still be on the board and maybe some of the Bears would take but people thought maybe he would go to Atlanta at eighth just before that Bears pick and obviously that was an interesting move they made L I want to go to you the Packers with a ton of draft Capital 11 total picks I know there’s some fans who wanted to them to take Iowa quarterback Cooper deene they draft a lineman instead taking Jordan Morgan out of Arizona why this direction in the first round well I think you know the Packers didn’t really make a lot of sexy picks and I think that kind of comes with the fact that they have a solid foundation and they have a good starting quarterback in Jordan love and we’re going to mortgage your future with Jordan love who is eventually going to get that contract extension you want to protect him up front and that’s exactly why Brian guda cuns the Packers GM selected Jordan Morgan an offensive lineman out of Arizona he wanted a big body up front they draft two more offensive lineman in the draft as well so they want to protect their future at quarterback in Jordan love so that’s exactly what they did but this team also got better on the defensive side of the football you know we’re talking about an offense that really found their groove with Jordan love and is really young wide receivers and the tight ends and you know they do draft a running back as as well but the defensive side of the football really was kind of what gunts really wanted to focus on he got their new defensive coordinator Jeff Halley a lot of new pieces to work with they retool the safety room they bring in competition at linebacker and of course they’re getting better on the back end and that’s exactly what this Packers team wanted to do so again while there weren’t any big flashy names or sexy picks as you could say this team as a whole got a lot better and they’re also talking about Super Bowl as well so it’s going to be a really fun division to talk about this year just to see how the quarterback picks really pan out but I think Green Bay when they have their guy in Jordan love and they bring in pieces to fortify a good defense around him they also want to be in that Super Bowl discussion as well and I will say this though about the draft coming to Green Bay next year Dan we have a lot to live up to in Wisconsin for how Detroit handled it and U we at 700,000 people coming to town that’s about seven times the population of Green Bay so it’ll be interesting to see how many people do make their way to Wisconsin yeah start booking your hotel rooms like yesterday so now that I’m hearing this from everyone there are four teams in the division who have Super Bowl expectations whether they are realistic or not because Dan I know the lions are itching to get there as they were so close just a year ago they trade up in the first round to draft quarterback terion Arnold out of Alabama they add another in the second with Andis rraw Jr give credit to Brad Holmes for how he’s built this team over the years what did you think of the approach and focus on the secondary this year yeah let me just say this to Lily just Lily throw open the doors and they will come I honestly believe that I mean they just the NFL shield the NFL draft they’re they will be making the pilgrimage to Green Bay and there will be a great crowd you guys will do a great job with it and it’s just such a cool event so uh get ready because they’re coming you know Cassie I I think this look the way this draft started with 14 players coming off the board offensive players to start I think the Lions kind of perked up a little bit and said some of these defensive players are starting to get pushed down and as they did there were certainly some guys that they had identified that they liked and Brad Holmes who I think went into the draft thinking I’m going to trade up and get one of these guys then I think really perked up because he didn’t have to maybe go up as far as he thought he had to only going up to 24 with Dallas but they had terion Arnold as the number one corner on their board and this is a guy that comes in at a position of need if you go back to the end of last year and you look at what Justin Jefferson did to the lions with CD l did to the Lions what pukaa did to the Lions when Mike Evans did to the Lions these guys lit them up they needed to improve that secondary they thought they did last year but injuries and and other issues took away from what they thought they had in the secondary so you kind of had to start all over remodel that room I think they were thrilled that rake straw was still there I don’t think they went into this draft in any way shape or form thinking that they were going to go cornerback cornerback but I think when that pick popped up rake straw was still there I think the difference between him and the next guy down was so significant they said we’re going corner corner we’re not going to worry about it we’ll put these guys in a room and see what they can ultimately do and and Brad Holmes thinking guys is this because you know we have people I’m sure you have people talking to you about why didn’t they draft something else they had two corners they had needs he doesn’t look at needs he looks at the best football player and figures it out later and there’s something to be said for that with the way he explains it if you have a cornerback up here and maybe a defensive end Who’s down here well if you draft this guy and he’s not good enough to help your football team you’re not helping yourself get the best players you can I think that’s something that ultimately pays off and to your point look I think this is a heck of a Division I think it was better last year than anybody thought it was going to be and yeah the lions were 30 minutes from getting there this last year that left a mark they want to get back there this season all right well Dan you just mentioned that a defensive player wasn’t taken off the board until the 15th pick and that’s pretty CRA to think about but five quarterbacks taken in the top 10 in large part thanks to the Falcons with the most heads scratching move of the entire draft taking Michael pennick at 8 Ahmad there’s rooting interest in McCarthy here because he’s obviously from the western suburbs of Chicago how will they handle McCarthy’s transition to starter well you know the thing that we all kind of love and hate about the National Football League it’s a what can you do for me now and I think the one person who’s like kind of looking at this pick and like scratching his head Sam darnold because he knows he’s here for just a bridge year he’s here for just one season and if he plays poorly for four to five weeks everyone is going to want to see JJ McCarthy but the Vikings have pretty much come out and said all along they’re not going to rush his progression they want him to take his time before he gets out on the field before he’s ready and everyone picks up on his flaws I really do think this is a long-term play and I really do think that Sam darnold May flourish this year with the Vikings he’s never had this many skill POS uh skill Playmakers around him when you think about the New York Jets and the Carolina Panthers team so I know a lot of people here are high on JJ McCarthy they can’t they expect the world from him but I don’t think they’re rushing him right now that is until the Vikings you know maybe go on a roller coaster run lose a couple of games and then all fans get impatient and want to see the backup until the backup gets in and then the backup’s not better than the starter you guys know how that goes we know all too well hey what was Justin Jefferson’s reaction to the pick Justin was he was thrilled about it he texted him right away he said that confidence is key in this league which I think we all know and he said there will be no confusion moving forward he said you can go by JJ I will go by Jets so it seems like everything will be just fine and Justin Jefferson said after the Detroit Lions game last season it does not matter who’s throwing him the ball he has a pretty big catch radius as long as they’re confident and getting the ball his way he’ll make it happen so I don’t think he’s bothered by this one bit and that’s what people are wondering with JJ McCarthy is can his passing game translate to the NFL all right the Bears only had four picks going into the draft they end up adding a fifth but GM Ryan pulls felt good about having just four because of the work they did in free agency and last year at the trade deadline bringing in Montes sweat for essentially a second round pick they had two cool stories coming out of this one with their third round pick Kiran amaji an offensive tackle out of Gale who grew up in Chicago in a suburb called Hinsdale he had a run in with head coach Matt iplo at keer Lakes Golf Course last year where he told him that the Bears were going to draft him and eflu kind of just shook it off and said like okay yeah we’ll look at the tape and then a year later he gets the call that he’ll be a bear where he plays still TBD uh still a raw talent has experience at guard and tackle and Ryan Paul said he could be either a swing tackle and potentially work his way into competition for left left tackle but another cool story in the fourth round the Bears take a punter and I know Lou mentioned this last week they draft Iowa punter Tory Taylor and if you know anything about Iowa he was essentially their best weapon on offense set the single season record for most punt yards with nearly 4500 he averaged 48 yards per punt pinned 32 inside the 20 and the Bears had some of the worst punting stats in the League last year so this is a huge upgrade from Trenton Gil but I also love that Taylor said he got a text from Caleb Williams saying hey I know you were needed a lot at Iowa we won’t be needing you very much next year I love that confidence um L I know the Packers won with the youngest team in the league last year after losing veterans like Bak tiari or and Jones DeAndre Campbell how much early belief is they can still go in and compete in the division continuing to be a very young team I think this is a team that still is very confident that they will be you know in the discussion for the postseason and and Beyond again this is a team that really thought that they should have at least made a run to the Super Bowl they thought they should have beat a San Francisco Niners team that they had a good shot against but they couldn’t get it done so they’ve learned from that freshman year under Jordan love and what they’ve really done this offseason is retool yes they lost David bokari but yes they do still have five capable big bodies from the guys that they had within and also bringing in in the draft Andre Dillard another veteran that they signed as well to you know protect uh Jordan love and then you had Aaron Jones who departed which I will say this though Ahad you got you guys will really enjoy him in many appolis he’s a great human and a great running back but you lose him you bring in Josh Jacobs so you know you bring in guys that can replace the talent not necessarily the the culture not yet at least but you bring in Josh Jacobs who is a very capable running back to kind of be rb1 they draft Marshon Lloyd who you know by all counts said I believe I’m the the best running back in the draft and you know he comes in and I think his you know future for Green Bay will to essentially assume that Aaron Jones role whenever he is capable of doing that so they bring in pieces there and while they did lose some High character veteran players they do have a lot of guys internally who they believe can help this team get over the hump and while we saw a lot of progression with their offense and again they bring in Josh Jacobs AJ Dylan still at running back that defense was really the biggest question mark for them last season and they bring in a lot of good defensive players as well Edan Cooper a linebacker has a really good chance to start Javon bowler the safety from Georgia really good chance to start so this team is used to playing young rookie players and getting the most out of them so I don’t see that not continuing at all this season I think there’s going to be a lot of extra young players kind of just getting their feet wet in the NFL but learning from those year two guys who were considered veterans in the locker room which is just a different dynamic in Green Bay than it has been in years past so while they did lose a lot of good veteran Talent good guys in the locker room they have enough players to really retool this team to stay in that Super Bowl hunt and that’s what this team is really excited about this season Dan the lions are the team to beat in the division after making it to the NFC Championship you just said it they were 30 minutes away from the Super Bowl do you still feel like after the draft they’re the team to beat well I think like I said I think this is going to be a really good Division and I think we got a good taste of that last year when we saw look Minnesota took us to the wire in a game that we could clinch with a Backup backup quarterback in Chicago we saw saw the way that they ended the season Green Bay came in on Thanksgiving day and just handed us our hats so I think there’s nothing but respect for these other teams in the division everybody in Detroit saw how teams got better in this division as well but I think there is confidence about this team and I think that confidence is born out of the fact that there were a lot of young players that led the way for this team last year that theoretically should only be getting better that is a different world for us to be in in Detroit for a long time we didn’t have young developing players fueling any success that we had it was guys that you signed as free agents or guys that you got to a trade or some other way this is a different world this is a depth chart that is now dotted by guys that were drafted by the Lions developed by the Lions and theoretically should be improving with the Lions so yeah I I I think probably if you ask somebody Detroit would be the team to beat but anybody who gets anything in this division is going to have to go out there and earn it what the Lions did last year isn’t getting get them anything on opening night of 2024 so uh I I really believe this is going to be a tough ride I think the lions are well equipped but everything you do you’re going to have to earn and everything you get you’re going to have to get it like you got it last year which is to go out there not make mistakes and play if you look at that game against San Francisco first 30 minutes was the way the Lions played for a lot of this season the last 30 minutes was the way they didn’t play for much of the Season making mistakes turning the ball over and that was their cryptonite there was no way they were going to overcome that so you know cautionary tail there sure but something to learn from for a lot of these guys too so um I I think there’s a lot of excitement here for the first time in a long time about what this team can be but also an understanding of what this division is and that tempers it very quickly yeah M I want to go to you and ask do you think the NFC North is now the best division in the NFL I’m biased because I work here so yeah I’m going to say the NFC North is the best division but when you look around the landscape of the NFC North I mean you have Jordan love one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL he’s really young you have Cayla Williams in Chicago who will probably be one of the best quarterbacks in this Division and then you also look at Jared G who just did what he did this past season the Vikings have their work cut out for them and if JJ McCarthy or Sam darnold can live up to just some lofty expectations that fans have placed on them here you really have to look at the north is being like the Cornerstone of the NFL for competitive teams all around the board because it’s not just offensively they’re competitive defensively as well and I think they’re kind of setting the standard for what a division should look like from top to bottom so yeah I’m looking forward to this upcoming season it’s going to be some fun matchups uh some fun divisional matchups and the Vikings will have their work cut out for them that’s for sure yeah you were talking about the offense because I feel like right now in Chicago we’re all focusing on the fact that Caleb Williams is here he now has romad dun Keenan Allen DeAndre Swift you name all the weapons but they still have a defense that was playing pretty darn good towards the second half of the season last year they bring back Montes sweat Jaylen Johnson signs a long-term deal that is all supposed to roll over into next season and complement now what should hopefully be an explosive offense all right I was looking at some graphic of each star’s starting offense of for each team so we got the lions with Goff Gibbs St Brown Williams leaport the Packers have love Jacobs Watson Reed dos Vikings we could go McCarthy or you could also go darnold Jones Jefferson Addison and Hockinson and then bears with Williams Allen Moore adun in Swift uh Lily do you think Jordan love is the best quarterback in the division or who do you think is yeah you know again we’re biased here right in Wisconsin so we’re going to say yes Jordan love but it’s it’s hard to say if he will end up being the best quarterback when all said and done after this season you know Jared gof is a veteran he played such good football for Detroit he led this team almost to a Super Bowl Jordan love again it was his first year as a starter what he did was remarkable I mean he brings his team to the divisional round of the playoffs I think we were talking earlier in the year just getting them in the playoffs was going to be the bar for Jordan love and he far surpassed that but what will JJ McCarthy look like what will Caleb Williams look like maybe that’ll change the narrative thus far but when you kind of look at the body of work so far from Jordan love I mean we’re we and Wisconsin are going to say he’s the best quarterback in the NFC North but that’s not to Discount anybody else in the division because they’re all still really talented players but I think what Green Bay fans love is that there really wasn’t there was like five maybe five or six weeks of uncertainty at the quarterback position and then they found their guy and joyan love right and now it’s just going to be interesting to say okay there’s a good quarterback in Green Bay there’s a good quarterback in Detroit and now we have good quarterbacks in Minneapolis and also in Chicago so it’s going to be a stack league but again I think us here in Wisconsin we love Jordan but uh I don’t think it’s fair to say he’s the quote unquote best so far right now when all is said and done because we don’t know what these these other guys can really do yet and obviously Caleb Williams watch she just humbled that’s all yeah yeah all Packers fans are so humble um Caleb Williams walks in and people in Chicago think he’s going to be the best quarterback in the division although he hasn’t truly proven anything yet in the NFL but he talked about the expectations that he wears and how they just simply do not affect him whatsoever and he credits to all the people that he surrounds himself with since he was back in high school and decided hey I want to be a quarterback I want to take this things really seriously and he said also he talks about the expectations that he puts on himself and wanting to win eight Super Bowls and he said why duck all the smoke he’s like bring it on that’s something that I really have appreciated about Caleb Williams throughout this entire draft process is that he has owned up to the spotlight I think he Embraces it he knows how to play into it and he knows that it comes with the quarterback territory and being a franchise QB in the NFL and so it’s part of the job and I think he secretly loves that part of it all right wrapping this up I want to go around quickly I want to get a grade from each of you on how your team did Dan I’ll start with you oh look uh a I don’t know I mean look I think it’s it is difficult to to grade a draft I I love what they did I love getting two corners for all the reasons Cassie that you just mentioned all the offensive weapons that that are in this division you’ve got to be able to play some defense and and they’re now better equipped to do that than they have been in the past now look Arnold rraw they have to prove that they can play at this level just like these other young players that we’re talking about young quarterbacks young cornerbacks all of them have to prove that they can play I have no problem with what they did so Brad Holmes based on his first three drafts and the way that he’s replenished the stock here in in Detroit and put that depth chart together I’d be foolish to give him anything other than an A and I’ll downgrade him later if I have to all right Lily and a mod I’ll start with you Lily only one word uh I’m going to say good uh again just kind of going off what Dan said it’s it’s kind of hard to really grade your draft class maybe ask us in two three years how they do but just based off of what Brian gaker GM was able to do the last two seasons he was just hitting home runs after home runs out of the park in terms of who he drafted if you look at last year’s class 11 of the 13 rookies played a significant part on this team success last year so it’s safe to say why not have it happen again this year and when you’re looking at the positions of need Brian cakums really went down the line there and said we’re going to check this box we’re going to check this box we’re going to check this box and they did that offensive line safety linebacker quarterback they got a running back as well so he really in my opinion hit it out of the ballpark in terms of what this Packers team needed to succeed and in terms of getting guys who are ready to start in the NFL I believe they got those guys on the defensive side of the football as well so I’m going to give it an a for the draft in terms of bringing in guys that they needed to help this team compete but again we will see if that does indeed translate into good play on the field this season all right Amad I’m sorry to cut you off but we are out of time I’m going to guess you’re going to give the Vikings an A too and I’ll give the Bears an a I’m Cassy Carlson for Dan Miller Lil out and and mod Hicks thanks for joining us for first in North we’ll see you next time
