The Chicago Bears have the most coveted spot in the entire 2023 NFL draft. They hold the #1 pick. If that weren’t enough, the quarterback-needy Houston Texans are right behind them at #2. So every team also seeking a QB in the top 10 knows that if they want their guy of choice, they’ll have to go through GM Ryan Poles to get him. Perhaps the team to watch over the next two or three months is the Indianapolis Colts. They hold the #4 overall pick and are division rivals with Houston. They likely have no desire to see a quarterback they might like twice a year on the opposite sideline.
Then there is their management situation. GM Chris Ballard thought he’d have several years of Andrew Luck when he took over in 2017. Then Luck retired before the 2019 season. Since then, Ballard has tried several different solutions to fill the void. First, it was Philip Rivers, then Carson Wentz, and finally, Matt Ryan. Those last two were massive failures and have put lots of pressure on the GM to fix the problem. Colts owner Jim Irsay reportedly wanted a move for a young QB in 2021 but was talked out of it. This time it doesn’t sound like he’ll be swayed.
That would explain why Ballard stated with shocking clarity how committed he is to land a quarterback in the draft, even if it involves moving up to #1.
The Chicago Bears have every reason to take that call.
A desperate GM is always something to take advantage of. Ballard is under the gun in Indianapolis. It looked like he was on the rise to stardom two years ago, but things have crumbled significantly since then. His hand-picked head coach was fired. His quarterback decisions haven’t worked. The team has made the playoffs twice with a 1-2 record. Irsay’s decision to fire Frank Reich was a clear message to Ballard. Either fix the problem this off-season, or you won’t be around much longer, either.
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The best part is the Chicago Bears won’t be wading into uncharted waters. Both Poles and Matt Eberflus have a relationship with Ballard. Poles worked with him for years in Kansas City. Eberflus was on the Colts coaching staff from 2018 to 2021. They have a good idea of who they’d be dealing with in any trade discussions. It comes down to how aggressive the Colts GM will be. Nobody can predict that right now. We won’t have an answer until at least mid-March. That is typically when big trades start happening before the draft.
