Where does Joe Thuney rank among Ryan Poles' Chicago Bears trades?

Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles has made some poor trades over the last three years, but he's also hit some home runs. Here are three that rank as his best deals as Chicago's general manager.

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The Chicago Bears, and GM Ryan Poles specifically, were the talk of the NFL on Wednesday. Once news broke that the Bears were trading for All-Pro guard Joe Thuney, the NFL world was inundated with praise for the fourth-year general manager, and it is well deserved.

It's tempting to immediately call this trade Poles' best work, but he's made some excellent trades before that received near-universal praise, including when he dealt the No. 1 pick of the 2023 NFL Draft for a haul that keeps on giving.

So which trade is the best of Poles' career, and where does the Thuney trade rank?

Let's take a look.

3. Khalil Mack to the Chargers

Bears fans were sad to see Mack go, but it also wasn't all that surprising. Poles was new to the job and decided to start from scratch, which meant trading away big contracts.

By trading Mack to the Chargers, Poles received a second-round pick that became Jaquan Brisker and a 2023 sixth-round pick that they sent back to LA for a pair of 2022 seventh-rounders.

With this trade, Poles cleared the decks of an expensive, aging star who didn't align with his vision and gained a pick that became a reliable defensive back. Pretty good work for a rookie GM.

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2. The Panthers trade

This might come as a surprise, but what works against Poles when evaluating this trade is how easy it was. Everyone wanted that first overall pick; all Poles had to do was let the trade offers come to him and pick the best one.

Allegedly, Poles wanted to trade back to fourth overall with the Indianapolis Colts, and then trade back again. But the Colts dragged their feet, and Poles wanted to move quickly. So he sent the first overall pick to Carolina before the NFL Combine that year. In return, the Bears got two first-round picks, a second-round pick (which the Bears will use in the upcoming draft), and star receiver DJ Moore.

This was an incredible haul, made even better by the fact that that extra first-rounder became Caleb Williams. But this was an easy trade to make. A lot of what led to this trade, and much of the benefits that came after, were pure luck.

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1. Joe Thuney for a future Day 3 pick

The Thuney trade ranks as Poles' best deal as Chicago's GM. Thuney is by far the most decorated player Poles has added to the roster, even more than DJ Moore. It addresses a position group that has been sorely lacking talent for too long, and all it cost was a future fourth-round pick.

That is impressive work, made more impressive by the fact that Poles had to go and hunt down this trade himself. He deserves a ton of credit for pulling this off, and I'm sure no one is more grateful than Caleb Williams.

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