Stowell’s 2024 Chicago Bears Draft Grades
The Chicago Bears had a night to remember last weekend. They came out of the NFL Draft with a pair of immediate starters and some key depth pieces that have room to grow for the future. What’s a draft review without some grades?
First Overall Pick — Caleb Williams, QB, University of Southern California
Grade: A
Bears fans can thank former Carolina Panthers General Manager Scott Fitterer for practically giving them the first overall pick in this class.
The Bears get their signal caller in Southern California quarterback Caleb Williams. He goes into the best situation for a rookie to be in. A stacked offensive roster with two 1,000 yard receivers, tight end Cole Kmet, one of the best in the league, and a defense on the rise led by a dangerous secondary and a dominant pass rusher in defensive end Montez Sweat.
Plus, there’s another addition to that dangerous offense.
ninth overall pick — Rome Odunze, WR, Washington
Grade: A
Bears fans can also thank the Atlanta Falcons for making a questionable move in drafting Washington QB Michael Penix Jr. Due to that, and the Los Angeles Chargers drafting Notre Dame offensive tackle Joe Alt, the Bears got arguably the best receiver in this class.
In a recent interview on The Pat McAfee Show, General Manager Ryan Poles detailed how the team’s draft process was for certain players.
“We have our draft board separated by different colors, and there’s certain guys you don’t pass on, and Rome is one of them,” Poles said. “It’s hard to find a guy who’s that big and that talented at the receiver spot, on top of being an unbelievable human being as well. There was no movement off Rome at all.”
Odunze joins an offense that can contend with the rest of the NFC North, and even give teams across the NFL a run for their money. Poles didn’t even have to trade up to get him.
75th overall pick — kiran Amegadjie, OT, Yale
Grade: B
Injuries have been a constant problem for the Bears offensive line. Left tackle Braxton Jones suffered a neck injury last season so this pick is a way to secure depth while also developing a potential starter for the future.
Yale offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie was one of the best offensive linemen in the FCS the past several seasons. In 2021, he started all 10 games that year as a right guard, so he also shows flexibility in the trenches. He was named Honorable Mention All-Ivy League in just his first season.
In his second season, his first on the left side, Amegadjie was named to First-team All Ivy League. Last year, he started the first four games of the season on the left side again. However, he missed the end of the season due to a quad injury so his tape is somewhat incomplete. He also was named to First-team All Ivy League for the second consecutive season.
The Bears get possibly the best player available for their particular needs and help fill out their depth.
122nd overall pick — tory taylor, p, iowa
Grade: B-
Quite possibly the best player for the Iowa Hawkeyes with the exception of cornerback Cooper Dejean.
In the words of Rich Eisen, “Punters are weapons, too.”
Iowa punter Tory Taylor is without a doubt the best punter in college. In 2020, he was named to the Freshman All-American team. As well as the Big Ten Conference Punter of the Year and First-team All-Big Ten Conference. For the next three years, he continued to gain more accolades. In 2021, he was named to Honorable Mention All-Big Ten Conference.
In 2022, Taylor was named Second-team Associated Press All-American and Third-team All-Big Ten Conference. This past year, Taylor was named First-team Associated Press All-American, Big Ten Conference Punter of the Year, and First-team All-Big Ten Conference.
He capped off 2023 by winning the Ray Guy Award which is given to the nation’s best punter, and set the NCAA record for single-season punting yardage with 4,479 in total and also breaking several school records for career punts and punt yards.
The Bears had one of the worst punt teams in the league last year. Now former P Trenton Gill, having the lowest net average punt yards (NET) in the league with 38. Returners had 12.7 average punt return yards (AVG) per game. Overall, he added to plenty of struggles the Bears suffered in special teams.
In college across four years, Taylor had 132 punts inside the 20 yard line (IN20). Taylor was, in some mock drafts, projected to go as high as the fourth-round in this class, showing how dominant of a punter he is.
Bears fans needed a little bit of time to get over a slight reach in their eyes, but after the Bears released Gill, and with his accolades, Taylor could make their special teams a force to be feared.
144th overall pick — Austin Booker, DE, Kansas
Grade: B
This came after the Bears traded a 2025 fourth-round pick to the Buffalo Bills for this selection. The Bears didn’t address their glaring need of a pass rusher to compliment Sweat.
Kansas DE Austin Booker was one of the best players available at the time. He actually was graded as a third-round prospect according to NFL.com.
In his first and only season with the Jayhawks, Booker had 12 tackles for loss and eight sacks, being named First-team All-Big 12 Conference and Big 12 Conference Defensive Newcomer of the Year.
Booker has been compared to Las Vegas Raiders DE Maxx Crosby. Quite ironic that the current defensive line coach Travis Smith was on the Raiders staff that drafted and developed Crosby.
Overall Grade: A