With the Baltimore Ravens losing in the 2022 Wild Card playoff round, the second-round draft pick that the Chicago Bears received in the Roquan Smith trade has been locked in at No. 53 overall in the 2023 NFL Draft.
Plenty of potential starters will still be available in that second-round range, so let’s look at some of the best players to be drafted with the 53rd pick over the past decade.
2022 NFL Draft: Alec Pierce – Wide Receiver, Indianapolis Colts
This is a name many Bears fans recognize because it’s a player they dearly wanted in last year’s draft. His rookie season stats are nothing overly impressive (41 catches on 78 targets for 593 yards and two touchdowns), but he looked good on the field and made the kind of ‘help your quarterback’ catches that the Bears lacked too often in 2022.
