2025 NFL Draft: Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles sheds light on underwhelming first-round talent

The Chicago Bears are one of the few teams who have a chance to land a true blue-chip prospect in the first round of the 2025 NFL Draft.

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Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles has never shied away from offering an honest opinion, and on Tuesday from the 2025 NFL owners meetings, he didn't mince words when it came to the first-round talent in this year's NFL Draft.

"The top blue (players), I think that's condensed pretty small in (round) 1," Poles said. "And then there's a wide range of really good starting level players that are going to range from probably single digits all the way to 50, 60, 70."

Translation? Teams will land the same caliber of prospect deep into the second and potentially even third round as they will toward the back-half of the top 10 picks in Round 1.

The Bears currently hold the 10th overall pick, and if we take Poles at his word, they'll need a little bit of luck for one of their 'blue' players, the highest grade they issue a draft prospect, to fall to their pick. And with Poles' propensity to trade back in the draft, perhaps he's sending a message to the rest of the league that Chicago's first-rounder is for sale.

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Or, maybe, just maybe, the Bears will go against the grain and flip some of their 2025 draft capital into a power move up the first-round order so they can land one of those few blue players Poles mentioned.

If Poles believes Boise State running back Ashton Jeanty is worth the cost of moving up three or four spots in Round 1, which would probably require packaging the 10th pick and one of their first two second-rounders, then more power to him.

However, it's more likely the Bears will stay put or trade back in the 2025 NFL Draft. Chicago has four picks in the range that should land "really good starting level players," as Poles put it. Adding four really good starters seems like the best strategy for the Bears, who've already undergone a massive upgrade in starting talent this offseason.

Why stop now.

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