Thirty-two teams, 32 thoughts on the opening week of the league year with free agency.
1. Chicago. The Bears traded ownership of the draft to Carolina, then owned the first week of free agency.
After a conversation with Bears GM Ryan Poles the other night, it sounds like the trade was almost THE TRADE. Poles told me he had significant discussion with Houston at number two that could have made him trade down twice in the top 10—with both the Texans and Panthers. He wouldn’t be specific on what broke down, but he did say: “I thought there was an opportunity to do something historically pretty cool with a trade from one to two and two to nine.