Ryan Poles' Top Priority: Help Justin Fields

The Bears are about to get their first taste of what GM Ryan Poles stands for on draft day.

So far he says all the right things.

"I truly believe in homegrown talent," Poles said. "I truly believe in drafting the right players and developing them here and that will help us in the long run."

All GMs say this. They don't all practice this.

The Bears enter the draft with only six picks and none in the first, fourth and seventh rounds. So trading for picks seems logical, if not entirely necessary.

Their team needs are high at several positions, and one of the greatest was wide receiver even before the arrest of free agent acquisition Byron Pringle for driving recklessly and with a suspended license. Now it seems even more urgent.

"Yeah, I mean, I know him very well," Poles said. "It's not a reflection of who he is at all. You don't want your guys in the news at all. At that point, it’s disappointing. But we had good conversations about it. We're in a good place. We'll keep that between us."

Poles thinks he knows Pringle well enough from their time together in Kansas City from 2018-2021 to address any problems, but Pringle had been in trouble as recently as 2019 and it seems to have made little difference.

Pringle was arrested in August of 2019 on seven felony charges related to alleged car burglaries, armed robbery and firing a BB gun at pedestrians. He pled guilty to the BB gun charge and was sentenced to four years probation.

BYRON PRINGLE ARREST FOOTAGE

So the need at receiver would appear even greater than other positions, considering the Bears' talent level at receiver was questionable arrest aside.

They also need a starter at right guard, another defensive tackle who can play the three technique, and can stand to improve at several positions where they currently have inexperienced or ineffective starters like tackle, cornerback, slot cornerback and safety.

While Poles talked Tuesday about the need to acquire more picks, he did so coming from an organization where trades usually meant the exact opposite. The Chiefs often packaged picks and moving up. It's how the Chiefs acquired Patrick Mahomes in the draft, moving up 17 picks in exchange for the 2017 27th pick, the 91st pick and a 2018 first-rounder to obtain Buffalos 10th pick.

They made three other similar trades up in 2017, one to draft running back Kareem Hunt and the others to trade for Ukeme Eligwe and Jehu Chesson. The next year the Chiefs were at it again with a trade up to draft Derrick Nnadi and another one to draft Breeland Speaks and Dorian O'Daniel.

All of this can't explain how Poles himself will act on draft day. The Chiefs organization had been in place four seasons before those 2017 and 2018 trades and the team was established as a playoff contender.

Poles has a rebuilding team, although he refuses to label it as such because of negative connotations associated with rebuilding. Fan bases associate rebuilding with losing and so do players on the roster.

"We're constructing a very good football team," he said. "Regardless of how you use whatever term that is, we just continue to add talent."

Facts are facts and Poles jetisoned four of the five players on last year's defensive front with rumors swirling about the finaly one, Robert Quinn. He has only Robert Quinn and Caleb Johnson back on the linebacker corps and only Eddie Jackson and DeAndre Houston-Carson back among the safeties. He has lost the team's top receiver in 2019 and 2020, Allen Robinson and four of the top five wide receivers from last year.

Rebuilding might not be a harsh enough term for what the Bears did in free agency and starting with Round 2 of the draft on Friday they'll see how their new GM attacks his first draft to begin laying the team's foundation for the future.

Bears Draft 2022 at a Glance

Where: In Las Vegas at the Draft Experience and the Draft Theater behind the High Roller and The LINQ, adjacent to Caesars Forum.

When: The draft is seven rounds, 262 picks, with the first round Thursday at 7 p.m., the second and third rounds Friday at 6 p.m. and the final four rounds Saturday starting at 11 a.m. (Central time). Teams have 10 minutes to make picks on Thursday, seven minutes on Friday and five minutes on Saturday.

TV: The telecasts are on ABC, ESPN, NFL Network and ESPN Deportes. They are beings streamed on the ESPN app, ESPN.com, the NFL app and NFL.com and there is a free trial on fuboTV.

Bears Picks: No. 39 in Round 2, No. 48 in Round 2, No. 71 in Round 3, No. 148 in Round 5, No. 150 in Round 5, No. 186 in Round 6.

Of Note: The Bears traded their first-round pick and their fourth-round picks last year for the right to move up from 20th to seventh in Round 1 and draft QB Justin Fields. They traded their seventh-round pick last year with wide receiver Anthony Miller to get the extra pick they have in Round 5 this year, No. 148. The 48th pick the Bears have in Round 2 was acquired for trading Khalil Mack to the Los Angeles Chargers.

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