The Chicago Bears know the situation they’re in. Holding the #1 pick in the draft brings a certain degree of leverage. It is the one pick in every draft that guarantees whatever player your heart desires. GM Ryan Poles could use it on anybody he thinks is a future superstar. On the other hand, the allure of such a pick can also fetch a massive package of additional picks from any team desperate enough to land that player of their choice. This is why many experts believe the Bears could end up trading it.
The logic is obvious. Poles wants to build this team through the draft. More picks mean he can take that approach. The challenge will be finding a deal he thinks is worth giving up the best pick in the draft. Nobody is sure whether a team will make that offer. As for Poles himself, he seems confident things will work out how he wants. Bears insider Adam Jahns of The Athletic brought up a reason why. While everybody is focused on the GMs involved in the decision-making, not enough people are accounting for the owners.
When it comes to trades, Poles can be patient, especially with Houston, Indianapolis and Las Vegas having impulsive owners. Could the Texans move up one spot to get the quarterback they covet, as the Bears did in 2017 for Mitch Trubisky? To use Poles’ own words, Cal McNair, Jim Irsay and Mark Davis — and the GMs and head coaches they employ — have time to be “blown away” by a quarterback in this class. The market will be there for Poles, and he appears to know it.
He had a great vantage point for that during his time in Kansas City, watching the division rival Raiders constantly find ways to short-circuit thanks to Mark Davis’ baffling decisions. He watched McNair tear down a contender in Houston and continually churn the front office and coaching staff. As for Irsay? He literally fired his head coach midseason and replaced him with a guy who had zero high-level coaching experience in Jeff Saturday. There is no telling what personalities like that will do if they become infatuated with one of the top quarterbacks.
All Ryan Poles has to do is sit back and wait. He has plenty of time. The draft doesn’t start until April 27th. That gives quarterbacks like Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, and Will Levis time to make positive impressions. If one of them says the right things to any of those owners, the phone will start ringing. The Chicago Bears hold the keys. If you want into the club, you better be prepared to pay. It’s not like those teams have leverage over him, either. If they want to play hardball, Poles can take the best player on his board, and they can watch their desired QB perhaps go to Houston at #2.
He’s betting on the likelihood there will be one team unwilling to take that gamble.
