Caleb Williams, DJ Moore react to trade that brought them to Bears

For the foreseeable future, the Chicago Bears will be linked to the Carolina Panthers for their 2023 trade that brought a ton of talent to Chicago in exchange for quarterback Bryce Young. Following the team's 0-2 start to the 2024 season, Young was benched, while the Bears are starting to put all their pieces from the trade together in 2024.

In exchange for Young, Chicago received wide receiver DJ Moore, and draft picks that would turn into right tackle Darnell Wright, quarterback Caleb Williams, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson, punter Tory Taylor, and a 2025 second round pick to come. The trade has drastically changed the makeup of both franchises, and Chicago has seen the most obvious and clear benefit to it thus far.

This week, two of the biggest keys of the trade, Williams and Moore were asked about the trade during their sessions with the media. Having been in Chicago for one full season after spending the first five years of his career in Carolina, Moore is happy the trade happening, giving credit to general manager Ryan Poles for the work he's done.

"I haven't really sat down and looked at all the pieces we got, I mean, you can see it but not to really go and think about it 'Dang we really made an impact' but we really did," Moore said. "Shoutout to [Ryan] Poles for that. It was a good trade."

Not only Moore, but essentially, on top of the other picks in which they acquired, the Bears swapped Young for the opportunity to draft Williams with the No. 1 pick in the 2024 NFL Draft. Williams, heading into his fifth professional game, says he is incredibly grateful for the trade that brought him to Chicago.

"Yeah, I know about it a little bit, not too much," Williams said. "Obviously grateful that it happened, being a Chicago Bear. Not too deep into the history of kinda what happened, but I do know it got a bunch of different things that got us DJ [Moore] and picks, myself included. It's a good collection of players that we have here.

Williams and Young will forever be compared due to the 2023 trade, but the Bears return was a complete haul that should help contribute to their long-term success.

This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Caleb Williams, DJ Moore react to trade that brought them to Bears