Can the Saints trade up with Bears for No. 1 overall pick?

With the New Orleans Saints getting a first-round pick back in the Sean Payton trade, is it possible for them to move up to the No. 1 pick on a deal with the Chicago Bears?

The New Orleans Saints were mocked relentlessly this season for giving up their 2023 first-round pick to the Philadelphia Eagles as part of a swap in draft capital last year. While the Saints used some of that capital gained in the trade  to move up in the 2022 NFL Draft to select wide receiver Chris Olave, they finished the season with a 7-10 record, and their first-rounder traded to the Eagles became the No. 10 overall pick. That’s right the reigning NFC champion Eagles are picking in the Top 10.

But on Tuesday, the Saints are back in the first round of the 2023 NFL Draft after they traded head coach Sean Payton and a 2024 third-round pick to the Denver Broncos in exchange for a first-rounder this year and a second-rounder in 2024. That pick New Orleans gained is the No. 29 overall pick, as it arrived from Denver via the Bradley Chubb trade with the Miami Dolphins, which arrived via the San Francisco 49ers as part of the latter’s move up to the No. 3 pick in 2021 to draft Trey Lance.

The Saints have a pretty glaring need at the quarterback position entering the 2023 season. Based on the fact that they have a first-round pick to work with, do they actually have a shot at moving up to the No. 1 pick in a deal with the Chicago Bears?

Can the Saints actually acquire the No. 1 overall pick from the Bears?

This is unrealistic.

Unless New Orleans is giving up a handful of first-round picks, it is a hard sell for Chicago to move all the way down to the No. 29 spot from the No. 1 position. Not to mention that there are teams in need of a quarterback in the Houston Texans (No. 2), Indianapolis Colts (No. 4), Las Vegas Raiders (No. 7), and Carolina Panthers (No. 9), and as you can see, all select in the Top 10. Why would the Bears move down 28 spots, when they can move down a little bit, have an early first-round pick and put them in range to select one of the best prospects in the draft in Georgia defensive lineman Jalen Carter or Alabama linebacker Will Anderson Jr.?

The next question that would come up is “what about trading their first-round pick for Justin Fields.” Well, about that.

During an appearance on “The Rich Eisen Show” on Tuesday, The MMQB’s Albert Breer said that he expects the Bears to keep Fields after his impressive 2022 season, and look to trade the No. 1 pick.

"“My sense is that they’re going to move forward with Justin Fields and try to trade the first pick,” said Breer. “Now could that change based on their evaluation of Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Will Levis, Anthony Richardson? Sure. But I talked to enough people their that feel like Justin, there wasn’t enough around Justin to get a really clean evaluation on him last year. But given what he had, what he did was really, really impressive.”"

Obviously plans can change as NFL teams move further through the pre-draft process. But as of now, the expectation is that the Bears will keep Fields and build around him. They have $98 million in cap space to work with this offseason, and they can gain more draft picks by trading the No. 1 overall selection.

While Saints fans can hope that they can find a way to jump up high to the No. 1 pick or to make a trade for Fields, it just doesn’t seem like either are realistic possibilities.