Bear Digest

Ryan Poles explains no-trade strategy to draft Colston Loveland

The Chicago Bears GM said he made calls and considered trading up or back but trading up would have cost the team too much in Friday's second day of the draft.
Gene Chamberlain|
Colston Loveland on Ben Johnson and the Bears (1).mp4
Colston Loveland on Ben Johnson and the Bears (1).mp4

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Chicago Bears

The fur started flying and the Bears were looking into moving up or down, GM Ryan Poles admitted.

Instead, they stayed put at No. 10 in Thursday's NFL Draft and he didn't mind the strategy one bit as they came away with Michigan tight end Colston Loveland.

The tough stretch came when the Browns traded away the second pick to Jacksonville. While the early first round was occurring, Poles pondered a trade up. Although he wouldn't mention running back Ashton Jeanty specifically, predraft repots by The Athletic's Diana Russini and others pointed to this as the Bears' interest.

"So we felt confident with the way it was going to play out," Poles said. "We were looking at the numbers. We made phone calls up and back, just to kind of see what the landscape was.

"Did it make sense for us or not? And at the end of the day we felt real comfortable with how it worked out."

In other words, they weren't trading up for Jeanty because of the high cost at No. 5 in terms of picks. And eventually the Boise State running back wound up with the Raiders at No. 6.

Poles sees Day 2 as a real opportunity with three picks and didn't want to ruin this chance by moving up.

"So to give up that for one person, so giving up two for one--and it probably would have been even for more than that--it just didn't make sense," Poles said.

His philosophy remains the same in trades.

"Definitely let the draft board kind of do its thing, which is (it) always puts you in a real comfortable position," he said. "You're to forcing certain needs and I think a lot of mistakes can be made there."

The idea is to come back with the 39th, 41st and 72nd pick and make in impact.

While they obviously need a running back, possibly an offensive lineman and a defensive lineman, as well as even a safety, Poles isn't citing any of the positions specifically as targets. It's the same philosophy at work, the best available player according to your draft board and not drafting for  need.

"I think we're going to do what we've always done and kind of let the board talk to us," Poles said. "There might be some impact players that aren't in those positions and it's just going to, again, when you start leaning on need you're going to go down the board and you're staring at this guy that's sitting at the top of the board. It's a tough thing to do and just make an impact on your football team."

Even with the best-available philosophy, players are out here immediately available who suit the Bears' needs.

Running backs

TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio State

Kaleb Johnson, Iowa

Quinshon Judkins, Ohio State

Dylan Sampson, Tennessee

Edge Rushers

Mike Green, Marshall

Nic Scourton, Texas A&M

JT Tuimoloau, Ohio State

Jordan Burch, Oregon

Donovan Ezeirauku, Boston College

Oluwafemi Oladejo, UCLA

Landon Jackson, Arkansas

Defensive Tackles

Omarr Norman-Lott, Tennessee

Darius Alexander, Toledo

T.J. Sanders, South Carolina

Shemar Turner, Texas A&M

Offensive Line

Jonah Savaiinaea (G/T), Arizona

Aireontae Ersery (T), Minnesota

Jared Wilson (C/G), Georgia

Safety

Nick Emmanwori, South Carolina

Kevin Winston Jr., Penn State

Xavier Watts, Notre Dame

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.