Could Ryan Poles go 10-for-10?

With the final preseason game nearing and the Bears due to make a roster cut of five more players on Tuesday before final cutdown next week, one truth looks self-evident.

Ryan Poles knew what he was doing on draft day.

The Bears GM turned six draft picks into 11. Everyone remembers that much.

However, based on this training camp and offseason it would seem Poles did not draft a player out of 11 who it's easy to look at and say doesn't belong on their 53-man roster.

During the Ryan Pace era, it was often easy to pick two or three players who hadn't measured up in camp or preseason.

It's entirely possible Poles will go 10-for-10 with draft picks making the 53-man roster, one of his 11 picks being center Doug Kramer who is on injured reserve.

Sure, some of this is it's a rebuilding team with plenty of roster holes, but not all of it. Here's how they've fared.

Cornerback Kyler Gordon looked sharp in OTAs and early camp at two positions. An injury set him back and he started to make up for lost ground in the second preseason game.

Safety Jaquan Brisker has a thumb injury now but in his only preseason game stood out probably more than any other rookie.
Wide receiver Velus Jones Jr. got his chance last week and immediately flashed the speed and power he has on special teams. He needs to show more in the passing game, like he has at times in training camp, but he's obviously a contributor for this year.

Braxton Jones is the surprise player of Bears camp, a possible starting left tackle on opening day as a fifth-round pick. It would be the first time in 30 years this happened for the Bears at this position with a rookie.

Dominique Robinson has flashed in spots with a sack and has shown he learned from all those first-team reps he had in the offseason when both Robert Quinn and Al-Quadin Muhammad were absent from OTAs and minicamp.

Zach Thomas had been quietly and steadily blocking at left guard with the second team, and last week against Seattle he seemed to own the Seahawks' defensive line and linebacker corps. He did enough that NFL.com's Chad Reuter gave him a B- grade for the game while rating his game among the best rookie efforts in the league last week. "Chicago successfully ran behind Thomas on the left side, as he came off the ball low and hard, moving tackles out of the hole or pushing them five yards downfield," Reuter wrote. "He also negated linebackers at the second level and showed his nasty side by sticking on blocks through the whistle."

Sixth-rounder Doug Kramer was making it possible for the Bears to function at center after Lucas Patrick's thumb injury and was getting some first-team snaps at times ahead of Sam Mustipher, but then suffered a lower leg injury and is on injured reserve.

Trestan Ebner has been doing more than establish himself as a third running back. His play in the passing game has been better than backup Khalil Herbert's, and he has shown he can run with far more power than anyone suspected.

Seventh-round safety Elijah Hicks had the roughest start of all of them, missing offseason work and then giving up a TD pass to Chiefs backup quarterback Shane Buechele on a post route in the preseason opener. But he has been solid in practice and last week had a respectable game on defense besides making the special teams play of the week with a muffed punt recovery and rollover into the end zone for a touchdown. Special teams had been something he said he has always enjoyed doing. Hicks has had ups and downs but at least he has been available since returning from the unspecified offseason injury. That's more than can be said for veteran safety Dane Cruikshank, who has been injured far more than he has practiced. This has to be kept in mind as they perform cutdowns.

Punter Trenton Gill has had outstanding hang time, put six down inside the 20 in two games, had one other muffed that went for Hicks' TD, and he also has a kickoff touchback.

Seventh-round guard Ja'Tyre Carter caught eyes with several strong early practices and had a stint for a short time with the first team until they began working veteran free agent Doug Schofield into the lineup. However, since Teven Jenkins has taken over at right guard it would seem anything goes. The question now is whether they might keep Carter on the roster ahead of the veteran Schofield?
It wouldn't even be a shock if undrafted rookie linebacker Jack Sanborn made the roster after his big first preseason game with two takeaways.

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