Acquiring more draft picks is why teams trade down in the draft every year. The selling point is simple: More picks mean more bites at the apple. Logic dictates that your odds of finding good players go up when you can select more of them. Few general managers have operated under this philosophy more than Ryan Poles over the past two years. He has moved down seven times in that span, accumulating 21 total picks. Many believe the Chicago Bears are likely to do so again. They only have four picks in this draft. Moving down from #9 is their best opportunity to acquire more.
That by itself isn’t a good enough reason, though. Accumulating picks is one thing. People forget why Poles feels comfortable doing something like this. It is a confidence in his ability and the ability of his scouting department to identify good players anywhere in the draft. His first two signify that. Here is every player the Bears acquired after trading down in the previous two drafts.
- Braxton Jones
- Trestan Ebner
- Doug Kramer
- Dominique Robinson
- Ja’Tyre Carter
- Elijah Hicks
- Trenton Gill
- D.J. Moore*
- Darnell Wright
- Roschon Johnson
- Terell Smith
He managed to secure two starting offensive tackles, a star wide receiver, a highly capable reserve cornerback, a versatile running back, and a standout special teamer with those moves.
Ryan Poles’ opinion of the top prospects will determine everything.
If he believes somebody like Rome Odunze, Brock Bowers, or Dallas Turner are future stars, then the sensible decision is to stay put at #9 to take them. However, if he doesn’t see much separation between them and prospects likely to go in the middle of the 1st round, moving down is an easy decision. It is all about how confident he is the Bears will take full advantage of the extra assets they get. They’re likely looking at an extra 3rd rounder at least, perhaps a 2nd if they move down far enough. That would give them much-needed flexibility.
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One thing we’ve learned about Ryan Poles is he’s unshakable. The Bears GM is not prone to panicking in pressure situations. He is well-prepared and can adapt quickly depending on how things unfold. If he decides to move down from #9, it will be because he knows he can still land a good player for his team while potentially adding another with whatever assets he picks up. The best thing to do is trust him. This is the moment he’s been building towards for three years.
