When he took as Chicago Bears GM, Ryan Poles got handed a challenging situation. Most in his position at least can start their tenures with a 1st round pick in the draft. That is not the case for him. Thanks to the trade for Justin Fields last year, Poles had no 1st in 2022, but he also had just five picks total. This forced him to trade Khalil Mack in order to secure another 2nd round pick. Even then, he still only has six.
For somebody that said he wants to build through the draft moving forward, that was bound to still feel inadequate. That is why some theorized Poles could look for opportunities to trade down when the draft began. The Bears hold two picks in the top half of the 2nd round, so there could be opportunities to do so. Sure enough, the GM confirmed he’s wide open to the possibility during his pre-draft press conference on Tuesday.
This doesn’t guarantee it will happen.
Trading down takes more than one team to accomplish. Ryan Poles will need another team with a solid enough offer to make it work. He’ll also need a reason to do so. It becomes more justifiable if a player the team likes might still be available after the move down. In the end, the reasoning for this approach is obvious. Poles is a draft-first guy. Hardly a surprise for somebody who’s been a college scout his entire career. He made it clear in the presser that he wants a roster of homegrown talent.
That is difficult to accomplish without more picks. GMs that think this way tend to prefer at least 8-10 selections every year. So he may look to secure two more over the course of this weekend. Where it gets interesting is how he approaches it. Will he look to move down from the higher pick at #39 or will he use that on a player and try to move down from #48? There is any number of possibilities in play.
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