NEWSLETTER
Bears GM Ryan Poles made it abundantly clear that he was hoping to trade back and collect picks in the 2022 NFL Draft.
And with the numerous needs up-and-down the depth chart, why wouldn’t he? Trading back has long been the most logical game plan for these Bears. Particularly as a new regime tries to dig out from the messes made by its predecessors. But was trading up ever an option? Actually, yes!
In discussing the draft with team website senior writer Larry Mayer, Poles reveals that moving up actually *was* on the table.
More from Poles:
“This year we were trying to be as disciplined as possible. There were some players that we liked and we considered, but we knew that from this draft we needed as many good players as possible, and to do that was to enhance the amount of picks that we had. So, we decided to be pretty disciplined with that and trade back rather than giving up picks to [move up]. There were some opportunities and some thoughts and discussions about doing that, but we really wanted to stick with the plan.”
Between the Bears’ needs and lack of draft-pick capital, a trade-up seemed/seems illogical. But it clearly did come up. Maybe there was a receiver Poles had eyes on? Perhaps an offensive lineman? Poles sure wasn’t shy about drafting them over the weekend. Heck, it could’ve been a stud lockdown corner. Whatever it was, it wasn’t enough to move Poles off his stance at that moment. So, he stood pat (or moved back). Kudos for sticking to your convictions. We’ve seen what it looks like when a GM forces a move when it would’ve been easier to stick to your guns. But we don’t need to re-visit the 2017 NFL Draft right now. I just thought you might find this all interesting.
