More Details Surface On Chicago Bears Trade Down Rumors
Almost from the moment the Chicago Bears completed their deal with Carolina for the #1 overall pick, rumors surfaced that GM Ryan Poles might not be done moving down. He seems determined to stockpile as many picks as possible in hopes of overhauling his rebuilding roster. It would mark the first time in modern history a GM has willingly moved down from 1st overall to out of the top 10. Tennessee did so in 2016 but then traded back up to #8. It would be unconventional, to say the least.
Smoke around this possibility hasn’t faded in the subsequent weeks. Far from it. The buzz remains strong. Poles himself did nothing to downplay them. He seems wide open to the idea. David Kaplan of ESPN 1000 said on his YouTube channel that the interest is there. Now he had a new update on Wednesday via Albert Breer of the MMQB. It appears the Bears will look to move down from #9, but only if Poles believes he still has a good chance of landing one of his blue-graded players.
Blue is what he considers the best prospects in the draft. Recent reports suggest he has seven or eight names with that label.
This idea is likely to cap how far Chicago Bears will move down.
Dropping into the late teens or early 20s seems out of the question. On the other hand, a small drop somewhere between #11 and #16 seems like a possibility. That would likely net the Bears an additional 3rd or even 2nd round pick. What remains unknown is which players on his board carry the blue tag. Experts and fans will have their opinions. The truth is who they see as top prospects may not match what Poles sees. Don’t forget he had a high grade on Braxton Jones last year. A 3rd round grade. However, he got the sense during the draft that the Souther Utah tackle was going to fall somewhere in the 5th round. So he traded down a few times, secured extra picks, and then took him.
Jones went on to start every game at left tackle.
This would be the same approach. If Poles gets the sense that one of his preferred targets will slip into the mid-teens range, then moving down first is the logical thing to do. Yes, there is an element of risk to it. Somebody might unexpectedly move up for him before the Chicago Bears pick. Then again, this is how the draft game is played. You have to take some calculated risks. It will be fascinating to see how the board falls next month. If the Bears move down, we’ll know Poles thinks he can get somebody he likes later on.