The Chicago Bears only have one pick left in the 2024 draft. Thus far, it’s hard to argue with their approach. GM Ryan Poles got his quarterback and a potential star wide receiver with the first two picks, Caleb Williams and Rome Odunze. Then, in the 3rd round, he grabbed a talented developmental left tackle in Kiran Amegadjie. Now he has only the 122nd pick in the 4th round remaining. Poles has said multiple times he is content to go through this draft with only four picks. He recognizes the team had 21 in the two previous years and will have nine next year. This isn’t a deep class. He is fine opting for a conservative approach.
However, Poles did make a surprising admission during his presser at the end of day two. The Bears still have some “gold” rated players on the board. For those unfamiliar, gold is the third level of quality behind blue (elite) and red (really good). Gold represents players who can be immediate backups and develop into quality starters. While Poles undoubtedly hopes to get one with that 4th rounder today, he might be compelled to action if one of them keeps falling. He would do this by offering up a future pick next year for a pick this year.
For example, if he wanted a 5th round pick in 2024, he would likely offer a 4th round pick next year. It would be a bold move, but it’s been done before.
Ryan Poles isn’t normally the aggressive type.
He has only traded up once in his draft career to this point. That was last year when he went up for Tyrique Stevenson. Other than that, he’s either moved back or stayed put. The GM said the talent and depth of Chicago’s roster is much better than last year. He feels it will be much harder to make the team for younger players. This might explain why he isn’t bothered by so few picks. Even so, he’s not ignorant of opportunities. Good players slip through the cracks all the time. If somebody he likes keeps tumbling, he’s duty-bound to go get them.
Who those players could be? That is pure speculation. Some names are left on the board of people with whom the Bears had private visits. One is Kansas edge rusher Austin Booker. Another is Texas Tech safety Dadrion Taylor-Demerson. Both have high draft grades from prominent experts. There are also some good centers left out there, like Hunter Nourzad of Penn State and Sedrick Van Pran-Granger of Georgia. Ryan Poles will hopefully have some good choices in the next couple of hours.
@Dr. Melhus, looks like you got the Punter from Iowa…just a few rounds earlier than you wanted him…
@Dr. Melhus I pretty much agree with everything you just said. If they don’t trade back and stay put for BPA, Jaylen Wright makes a lot of sense to me. Hear me out lol. Swift got paid, Johnson is a RB3, and Herbert, though I like him, is not going to be on the team next season. Herbert could even be traded mid season to a contender that needs a good RB. Van Pran if he’s there, Mo Kamara, sure. They’ll be adding talent to the DL after cuts all the way up until the season starts. Hell, if Lawrence… Read more »
Okay, I could see Poles trading away a future pick to get a guy. But the Bears have already drafted the QB of the future(hopefully a world class one), a potential world class WR, and a developmental OL player (Kiran could end up at guard in ’24, if the Bears are honest about putting the best 5 players on the OL – he played LG his first year at Yale.) It seems self evident that addressing the DL is paramount. Mo Kamara, from Colorado state, or Khristian Boyd from Northern Iowa are underrated players that could make an impact. I’m… Read more »