Chicago Bears Primed to Get Involved in Expected 2026 NFL Draft Trade Bonanza

With the expectation that there will be a lot of trades in Round 1 of the 2026 NFL Draft, the Chicago Bears are primed to get involved.

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles. | Daniel Bartel-Imagn Images

With what we know about Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles' draft history, and with the expectation that there will be a lot of first-round trades in the 2026 NFL Draft, it's very possible the Bears will make a deal on opening night.

A trio of ESPN draft analysts, Jordan Reid, Matt Miller and Field Yates, all expect at least a handful of trades in the first round. Reid sees five trades going down, Yates pegs the number at six and Miller has the highest projection with a whopping eight.

Miller notes that teams he has spoken with are expecting a lot of action on Day 1 because of the lack of high-end prospects in this year's class, something we've heard a lot about over the past few months.

"The flat nature of this draft class might make people think there will be fewer trades, but teams I've spoken to expect activity due to the fact that there are so few blue-chip-caliber prospects," Miller shared.

Reid thinks that the wheeling and dealing could start early with as many as two trades in the top 10 alone.

"It always takes two teams to tango, though sources are telling me the Cardinals (No. 3) and Browns (No. 6) both want to move back in the top 10 itself," Reid said.

What Ryan Poles' draft trade history tells us

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Poles has made a good amount of draft trades during his tenure as the Bears' general manager, but he has only traded up once, which resulted in the selection of cornerback Tyrique Stevenson.

Poles clearly prefers to trade back, and he's in the right draft and first-round spot to do that because the consensus is that the players available in the area of the Bears' No. 25 pick will be similarly graded to the players Chicago can get after that selection, all the way into the second round.

Knowing that, Poles can cash in with a trade back by adding a pick or improving Chicago's spot in a later round while also still getting a player the team wants and needs.

Now, we wouldn't totally rule out a trade up because, well, you can never rule anything out in the NFL Draft. But it's pretty obvious for multiple reasons why the Bears trading back is more likely.

Keep an eye on the Cardinals

Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

One trade back scenario could involve a deal with the Arizona Cardinals. Tony Pauline of Essentially Sports is hearing that the Cardinals are looking to trade into the back end of the first round from the top of the second to get quarterback Ty Simpson.

We touched on this possible scenario in a separate article and an even trade based on the NFL Draft Trade Value Chart would see Chicago give up Nos. 25 and 89 (third round) for pick Nos. 34 (second round), 65 (third round) and 143 (fifth round).

This deal checks multiple boxes for Chicago. Poles can still get a good player at the top of the second round while also moving up in the third and adding a fifth-round pick the team doesn't currently have.

But we also have to throw in the possible desperation factor, which could lead to Chicago getting even better value than that.

If Arizona's general manager, Monti Ossenfort, has a seat as hot as we think it is after not having much success over his first three years on the job, he might go all out to land a quarterback who would at least give the Cardinals some hope for the future and possibly extend his leash.

If that's the case, the Bears should fully exploit the situation.