Lull Before the Storm for Ryan Poles

The phone doesn't seem to be ringing off the hook for Bears GM Ryan Poles yet, at least with teams looking to offer trade packages for the No. 1 pick in the draft it hasn't.

For another reason it did.

"Right now, everyone's on the same schedule," Poles said of all the league's GMs. "We're all looking at the prospects in both free agency—we are halfway through our free-agent meetings right now.

"We've taken a little peek at the draft process and the draft prospects that are coming up this year. I think it's too early. No one kinda knows how it's all gonna fall. So I would assume that picks up here in the next month once we get through the Senior Bowl and the East-West and all those all-star games."

The Senior Bowl is Feb. 4 while the East-West Shrine Bowl is Feb. 2.

Most big trades of this nature get done in April or late March. Free agency can dictate big needs for teams so it doesn't make sense for the first pick to be dealt so early, barring someone completing blowing Poles away with an offer.

While the phone hasn't been ringing about the first pick in the draft, it did ring about assistant GM Ian Cunningham.

The Tennessee Titans and the Arizona Cardinals both sought and received permission to interview Cunningham after only a year on the job in Chicago.

Cunningham didn't get either job. The Titans did give him a second interview but have hired Ran Carthon, a 49ers personnel executive. Arizona hired former Titans executive Monti Ossenfort.

The calls about Cunningham definitely didn't take Poles by surprise.

"It'd be a big loss, but at the same time, I was prepared for this," Poles said. "Did I think it was gonna be less than 12 months? No. But I'm not shocked at all. It's not gonna be long."

Poles is prepared if or when a team does hire Cunningham in the future.

"I have a plan for it and I feel good about it," he said. "I didn't expect he would be here long.

"He's a really, really good person, and then his ability to lead and really get an organization on track, I think it's going to be excellent when he gets that opportunity."

The skills he said Cunningham has sound almost like what everyone at Halas Hall on Tuesday said were strengths of new team president Kevin Warren.

"Consistency, detail, super disciplined ... communication skills are outstanding," Poles said of Cunningham. "And then his ability to evaluate talent.

"And then I think the key thing in this position is just listening. A lot of times you get in that seat and you want to start barking orders and making decisions, but how can you receive all the information and send that through your own process and then move forward in a way that everyone feels involved? He's special in that part."

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