The college football regular season is complete and the draft order is starting to take shape, making it a perfect time to unveil my first mock draft of the 2024 NFL Draft process.

Understandably, most readers will be interested in which quarterbacks made the mock and which teams they’re connected to. But the real story line of this first mock draft is in the trenches, as nine offensive tackles made the cut. All 32 teams could use more help at that position — some more than others — and this will be a great draft to address it early.

Plenty will change between now and April, but this is still an interesting exercise at this point in the draft calendar. The picks don’t reflect my personal rankings or what I would do, but rather this projection strictly goes by what I think teams would do if the draft was tomorrow.

This mock reflects the updated draft order and does not include any trades. (I also included the first picks on Day 2 for teams that currently don’t have a first-round selection.)

Justin Fields will be under a microscope the final month of the season as the Bears consider their quarterback options. One question that will help them make a decision: Is the front office prepared to give Fields an extension with $100-plus million in guarantees? Because that is eventually what it will take. If the answer is no, then Chicago is better off turning the page and reinvesting in the position with a promising rookie on a significantly cheaper deal.

Regardless, Fields playing well down the stretch would be nothing but a positive for the Bears. If they do opt to move on, a strong finish from Fields would strengthen the trade compensation offered by Atlanta, Minnesota or whichever team looks to kick the tires on the talented quarterback.

The next step in this “choose your own adventure” epic: Which quarterback should be the pick at No. 1? It is much too early in the process to answer with any conviction (the Bears don’t know, so we sure as heck don’t know). I’ve heard from some Bears fans uninterested in drafting Drake Maye, “another North Carolina quarterback” (Chicago took Mitchell Trubisky out of North Carolina in 2017), and from others who don’t want Caleb Williams because he is “an indecisive passer like Fields.”

Both reasons are understandably jaded based on the Bears’ last two first-round quarterbacks, but Williams and Maye are much more than those arguments suggest. Despite Maye being higher in my personal rankings, I still believe Williams is the favorite to be the top pick.