Going into the third day of the NFL draft, the Chicago Bears war room featured the usual power players. GM Ryan Poles, head coach Matt Eberflus, team president Kevin Warren, and assistant GM Ian Cunningham were all present. However, there was a notable absence: team chairman George McCaskey. One would think the primary decision-maker for the entire franchise would be present for every day of the draft. What could be more important? Well, according to Courtney Cronin of ESPN, McCaskey was umpiring a high school baseball game.
This is something the man has done for the past 50 years since he was in college. It is another reminder that McCaskey isn't your normal NFL owner. He is very much that unassuming, family-oriented type of person. That mentality undoubtedly comes from his mother, Virginia. While some may not view that as the ideal personality to run a football organization, it is a reminder that McCaskey is a human with hobbies just like everybody else. The hilarious part is he thought he wouldn't have to be present for day three of the draft because the Bears only had one pick.
He soon found out he may have miscalculated.
About an hour later, Carrick returned with an update, which surprised McCaskey, since the Bears entered the draft with only four picks, including two in the first round.
"He goes, 'Not us, we're out of picks,'" Carrick said. "I was like, 'Well, you just traded back in.' He immediately wanted to know who they got."
Carrick let McCaskey know his franchise drafted Iowa punter Tory Taylor in the fourth round with pick No. 122 and Kansas defensive end Austin Booker at No. 144, after trading back into the fifth round.
McCaskey, whose family owns the Bears, is confident enough in the management team he put together, including president Kevin Warren and general manager Ryan Poles, that he doesn't need to be involved in every transaction.
"He truly does trust the people around him… he does not micromanage," Warren said. "It provides an environment of an even higher degree of accountability because he's there, he's supportive."
George McCaskey might finally have the Bears pointed in the right direction.
Let's just say the first decade of his time as chairman wasn't great. Since taking over in 2011, the franchise two winning seasons and two playoff appearances with no wins. His hiring of Phil Emery and Ryan Pace as GMs proved disastrous, as both set the organization back years with their misguided decisions. After years of letting others steer him in what he hoped was the right direction, McCaskey finally chose to seize the initiative. He recognized early on that Ryan Poles was different from other GM candidates he'd met. So, he got proactive in his efforts to hire the man.
Three years later, the Bears rosters looks the strongest on paper it's been in a long time. They have high-caliber talent everywhere, a steady head coach, and now a young quarterback with loads of talent. Best of all, Poles didn't have to sacrifice future resources to make it happen. George McCaskey isn't perfect, but it is hard to argue with his choice of leading men this time around. Best of all, he lets them do their jobs rather than trying to micromanage everything like some owners do. It is okay to criticize him as the team's owner, but you can't deny the man has the best intentions for the fans.
