Ryan Poles' Eye-Opening Comments On What He Expects When Draft Starts

Few are better connected to the NFL information pool than general managers. While teams still do plenty of cloak-and-dagger to mask their true intentions, it isn't difficult to surmise likely outcomes ahead of the draft. GM Ryan Poles has been doing that for the past several weeks with the Chicago Bears. His job is twofold. He needs to construct a board of prospects the team loves, and then determine what other teams might do to prevent them from acquiring said prospects.

Poles met with the media 48 hours before the action began. After congratulating Kyler Gordon on his contract extension and T.J. Edwards for receiving the Brian Piccolo award, he was asked what his expectations were for the draft. He used one word to describe it.

“I feel really confident where we’re at. I think this one’s going to be a little wild, but we’re going to be prepared for all the different scenarios that could pop up.”

His belief is that the unique depth of this particular draft class will create a lot of movement in the early rounds, leading to several surprises. He was then asked about the possibility of trading down from #10 overall. All he could say was that the phone lines are hot.

Ryan Poles sounds ready for almost anything.

It wasn't just trades that could create some madness in this draft. There is also the likelihood that certain players projected to go later in the 1st round might jump way higher than anticipated. Think the Michael Penix pick from last year, but multiple times. There are already rumblings of some surprises unfolding in the top 10. Matt Miller of ESPN corroborated Poles' comments, stating the trade calls have really picked up over the past 24 hours. Brad Biggs of the Chicago Tribune recently stated there is a strong probability the Bears will look to move down if two notable names aren't available at #10.

It appears what Ryan Poles said is true. After months of zero movement in the 1st round, it sounds like everything could happen at once, like some timed detonation. The Bears don't seem nervous about what is to come. Not worrying about landing a quarterback is a big part of that. They can focus on acquiring the best possible player. Poles has traded down in the 1st round before, so we know he's open to it. Everything comes down to getting the right offer.