Bears GM Hints at Moving Down Soon
It wouldn't be hard to connect the dots to the Bears trading down out of the draft's top spot at an earlier date than most teams make their moves.
Maybe it would be a time in the next two weeks.
Teams near the top in the draft make trades often in mid- or late April or even draft day because it's always possible to squeeze more out of a trading partner when they're up against a deadline and desperate.
However, GM Ryan Poles at the combine on Tuesday told reporters he could see something else happening.
"There are some scenarios that it might benefit us to move before free agency opens potentially, but again when we get back with all the information that we've gathered from here (at the combine) I think we'll have a better direction," Poles said.
Asked what direction, Poles left something to the imagination but gave clues.
"There's scenarios where you could, you know, add players as well potentially, which again gives you some clarity on what you want to do in the draft," Poles said.
By that he means add actual breathing, moving players, not draft slots.
One example could be, say, what if the Bears have a trade set up with the Colts and part of the package they get in return for the first pick is for defensive tackle DeForest Buckner to come to Chicago?
This would make three technique on the defensive line less of a need and edge rusher more of a need for the draft. In that case, they might be more inclined to draft Will Anderson Jr. instead of Jalen Carter.
If they signed a pass rusher another team cut for cap purposes, they could be more willing to trade well down the order. The reason for trading down, of course is to reap a real harvest of picks.
Poles' task will be weighing how far down they can go and still get superior return on their trade.
"That's a numbers game I talk about, really getting our draft board set up, see where if we move to this spot who's available?" he said. "I always talk about value, right, so there's gonna be certain players that are going to be in the value bucket. How many are there, which is going to dictate how far we can move back."
In such cases you're going to draft by best available player and not necessarily a need.
"The draft, really interesting setup, a ton of flexibility to, you know, take the best player at one or move and continue to add draft capital and get better, which is exciting," Poles said. "And then for free agency, the opportunity to have a little bit more ammunition than what we had last year allows us to bring in the right type of players that kind of fit what we're looking for and fit our culture so, again, we can keep moving the needle and winning more football games."
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