Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles seemed pretty relaxed Tuesday afternoon. Two days before Poles’ first NFL draft as a GM, he expressed confidence in his team’s preparation.

“The hay is in the barn,” Poles said. “When you go into draft day, it’s a little bit more calm than everyone thinks. It’s a little more quiet.”

Poles said he’s satisfied with the way the Bears draft board has come together and how his scouts, coaches and front-office talent evaluators have met to sort through the hundreds of prospects the team will consider selecting. And even in a heightened role as the man responsible for making each selection, Poles didn’t seem to be feeling much pressure.

“The responsibility of making the pick? Yeah, it’s bigger,” he said with a smile. “But at the same time, you rely on the work everyone put in to make the right decision. And that was the cool thing about doing a lot of these mock-up drafts. We feel comfortable with the way this thing is going to play out.”

With the draft set to begin Thursday in Las Vegas, here’s the inside slant on three notable storylines.

Multiple choice

As the top 10 of last year’s draft unfolded, Ryan Poles found himself especially intrigued with what the Cincinnati Bengals might do. With hopes of becoming a general manager one day, Poles tried to put himself in the decision maker’s chair of other teams to consider various strategies and sharpen his draft philosophies.

The Bengals had arrived at an interesting fork in the road. They landed their franchise quarterback a year earlier, selecting Joe Burrow with the No. 1 pick, and he flourished with 2,688 passing yards and 13 touchdowns in 10 starts.

But Burrow’s rookie season was cut short when he suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in Week 11, a brutal injury that came as he was setting in the pocket to throw deep against the Washington Football Team. In his first NFL season, Burrow was hit 77 times and sacked 32 times in 10 games.

Heading into last spring’s draft, the Bengals had a critical decision to make with the No. 5 pick. One road sign seemed to be directing them toward adding offensive line help to better support Burrow up front with a standout left tackle such as Oregon’s Penei Sewell.

Another, however, pointed toward star wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase, Burrow’s teammate for two seasons at LSU. Adding playmaking ammunition to the offense certainly made sense to help accelerate Burrow’s development.

In his role as the Kansas City Chiefs assistant director of player personnel, Poles knew what he would have done. Without hesitation, he would have selected Sewell and never looked back.

“I’m an O-line guy,” he said in late January. “I believe it starts there. … So I would have started up front.”

Perhaps that was just the former player in Poles coming through. Before entering the NFL scouting ranks in 2009, he was a standout guard at Boston College and got a training camp look from the Bears.

Still, when the Bengals snagged Chase, it didn’t stun Poles. Nor did it bother him. To each their own, he thought. He understood the attraction of the built-in chemistry between Burrow and his former college teammate. Poles just would have started elsewhere.

The Bengals, of course, could have been right either way. But they certainly won’t regret picking Chase, who exploded for 81 catches, 1,455 yards and 13 touchdowns as a rookie, becoming a major catalyst in the team’s surprising run to the Super Bowl.

From afar, Poles took mental notes.

“The beautiful thing,” he said, “is we can learn from these (other) teams to see that there are more ways to do it than just doing what I said. So we just learn.”

As fate would have it, in his first draft as Bears general manager this week, Poles faces a similar “Choose Your Own Adventure” dilemma. The Bears have a second-year quarterback in Justin Fields who also could use a sturdier wall from his offensive line as well as more playmaking firepower in his receiving corps.

So down which aisle might the 36-year-old GM steer his cart first?

Unlike the Bengals, Poles won’t have a top-10 selection to address one of those needs. Instead — barring an unlikely trade up — the Bears will wait until the seventh pick of the second round (No. 39) before they make their first selection.

Still, in the quest to get Fields the support he needs, Poles can have his personal lean while also being open-minded to alternatives. His preference, he emphasized in January, would be to fortify the line first. “I think that’s first and foremost,” he said.

But that’s also not a rigid stance.

“When I mention the Bengals, they took a different approach,” Poles said. “I was critical of it. At the same time, it worked out pretty well, right? So I think the main thing is you support the quarterback. If that’s giving him weapons, giving him a line, (you do it).”

For what it’s worth, the Bengals also drafted three offensive linemen last spring after picking Chase. They took Clemson’s Jackson Carman in the middle of Round 2, then used Day 3 selections on East Carolina’s D’Ante Smith and Georgia’s Trey Hill.

Carman, a left tackle in college, quickly moved inside to guard and made six starts as a rookie on the right side but wasn’t overly impressive. Smith spent two months on injured reserve with a knee injury and played in only two games, including an emergency start at left tackle in the regular-season finale. Hill made spot starts in Weeks 6, 13 and 18 on the interior of the offensive line.

After months of draft meetings at Halas Hall, Poles will have his Plan A ready. He’ll eagerly watch the first round unfold Thursday night with hopes that the board breaks just right for the Bears’ overall needs. The best-case scenario would be having his choice between a promising wide receiver and a highly regarded offensive lineman.

Most draft experts expect about six receivers to be selected in the first round. Six or seven offensive linemen also could be gone by No. 39.

Simply put, Poles won’t have the kind of win-win choice the Bengals had between Sewell and Chase. But he should have solid options as he makes his first draft pick as Bears GM. Tulsa offensive lineman Tyler Smith or Penn State receiver Jahan Dotson? Western Michigan receiver Skyy Moore or Washington State tackle Abraham Lucas?

Poles also has last year’s reflections to draw on, hopeful that the Bengals’ faster-than-expected breakthrough in 2021 offers a beacon of hope.

“It should get teams like the Bears excited that if we do things the right way, we can make those steps and be a championship-caliber team (soon),” Poles said.

Catching on quick

When word trickled through the NFL last week that San Francisco 49ers receiver Deebo Samuel had requested a trade, Ryan Poles’ radar went off. Naturally.

Poles’ Bears, after all, desperately need help at that position. And the mere idea of adding a player who had 1,770 yards from scrimmage and 14 touchdowns last season created instant intrigue.

Poles also has stayed on top of similar trade buzz surrounding the Tennessee Titans’ A.J. Brown, the Seattle Seahawks’ DK Metcalf and the Washington Commanders’ Terry McLaurin, all standout pass catchers entering the final year of their rookie contracts and staring at uncertain futures based on the recent financial explosion of the wide receiver market.

“It’s always intriguing (to consider),” Poles said Thursday at Halas Hall.

But …

(Yes, Bears fans, this is an all-caps, bold, underlined <u>BUT</u>.)

“This goes back to what I’ve talked about before in terms of staying disciplined,” Poles said. “I truly believe in homegrown talent. I truly believe in drafting the right players and developing them here. And that will help us in the long run.”

Quick translation: Don’t expect Poles to make any headline-grabbing trades for a top-tier receiver in the coming months. Do expect him, however, to take at least one big swing — and maybe two or three — on a talented receiver during this weekend’s draft.

“I would love to address that (need) on Day 2,” Poles said earlier this spring.

He later qualified the wish with a promise to stay disciplined.

“We’re going to be patient,” Poles said. “If it’s not there, we’re not going to force it either. This class (of receivers) is pretty deep. So I feel comfortable.”

The Bears don’t have a first-round pick, taking them out of play for the top five receivers in this draft: USC’s Drake London, Alabama’s Jameson Williams, Ohio State’s Garrett Wilson and Chris Olave and Arkansas’ Treylon Burks. But Poles should be able to move through the receiver buffet line in Rounds 2 and 3 on Friday night with plenty of appealing prospects available.

Perhaps standouts such as Penn State’s Jahan Dotson or North Dakota State’s Christian Watson will be sitting there. Western Michigan’s Skyy Moore, Cincinnati’s Alec Pierce, Alabama’s John Metchie III, South Alabama’s Jalen Tolbert and Memphis’ Calvin Austin III almost certainly will be available when the Bears pick for the first time.

Even better for Poles? In recent years, it has become clear that finding star receivers after Round 1 is realistic.

Last season, for example, 13 receivers finished the season with at least 1,100 receiving yards and six touchdowns. Nine of them were drafted after the first round, including eight taken outside the top 50. That’s an eye-opening list that includes Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp and five-time Pro Bowl selection Davante Adams. Also in that fraternity are Stefon Diggs, Keenan Allen, Tyler Lockett and Diontae Johnson.

The Bears’ leading receiver last season was Darnell Mooney, who had 81 catches, 1,055 yards and four touchdowns in his second season after being drafted in the fifth round out of Tulane.

Adams became the highest-paid receiver in league history last month when he signed a five-year, $141.25 million extension with the Las Vegas Raiders after being traded from the Green Bay Packers. He was the No. 53 pick by the Packers in 2014 and generated only moderate buzz when he was selected. He ran the 40-yard dash at the combine in a less-than-impressive 4.59 seconds. Eight receivers were picked before him. And the Packers had to convince outsiders that Adams could develop into a real weapon for Aaron Rodgers.

“You go by the tape,” then-Packers receivers coach Edgar Bennett said on draft weekend. “You see a guy getting open. You see a guy at the top of his routes creating separation and creating windows for the quarterback to throw the ball in. And when there is a tight situation and more of a competitive-type throw, you see a guy with strong hands and physicality who can go up and make the tough catch.”

Bears fans know the rest of that story and hope one day their favorite team can write a similar tale of success.

Less than a week after Adams signed his new deal with the Raiders, Tyreek Hill overtook him as the highest-paid receiver with a four-year deal with the Miami Dolphins that will pay him an average of $30 million per season. Hill lasted until Day 3 and pick No. 165 of the 2016 draft, in large part because of character concerns. Poles was the college scouting director in Kansas City when the Chiefs drafted him.

In the right environment, with the right developmental plan — and in a best-case scenario, paired with a superstar quarterback — real magic can happen for receivers who slip through the cracks a bit during the draft.

In addition to teams finding star receivers later in the draft more regularly, young receivers are more capable than ever of having an instant impact. Ja’Marr Chase led all rookie receivers last season with 81 catches, 1,455 yards and 13 touchdowns. His former LSU teammate Justin Jefferson set the bar for Class of 2020 receivers with 108 receptions, 1,616 yards and 10 touchdowns.

In all, 17 receivers who were in their first three seasons topped 750 yards in 2021. Poles attributes the NFL readiness of younger receiving prospects to the explosion of development all the way down through the youth ranks, with 7-on-7 camps and showcase events across the country.

“And the game has changed,” Poles added. “We’re just throwing the ball at a very high rate. If you look at the personnel (groupings) that are on the field, sometimes you’re rolling out with four receivers instead of just two or three. Now more guys have opportunities to make plays.”

It’s Poles’ job to find more of those guys. His next big chance arrives this week.

Deal or no deal?

During 13 seasons with the Chiefs, Ryan Poles experienced the draft from many vantage points, holding five roles under three general managers. This week he’ll be in the driver’s seat at Halas Hall, drawing from a deep library of experiences that helped him mold certain draft philosophies.

But just how eager will Poles be to push the Bears into the trade mosh pit of draft weekend? And in which direction will he prefer to go? Since being hired in January, Poles has made it clear he is far from content with the Bears’ draft wallet, owning only six picks heading into his first draft. The Bears have two second-round selections and a third-rounder Friday night and one fifth-round pick and two selections in the sixth Saturday.

No one should be surprised if Poles leaves the weekend with a draft class larger than six players. The first-time GM seems eager to find ways to draft eight or nine prospects to fortify a Bears roster loaded with holes.

Poles’ predecessor at Halas Hall, Ryan Pace, was known for being aggressive on draft weekend with a propensity to move up for players he couldn’t live without. In seven drafts, Pace traded up 10 times. His biggest draft failure was the expensive jump up in 2017 from No. 3 to No. 2 to take quarterback Mitch Trubisky.

“As an organization, we had conviction on this quarterback and his special attributes,” Pace said the night of that trade. “And we did what we had to do to get him. His potential to be a championship quarterback is all we focused on.”

That deal, as has been well-documented, didn’t work out as planned. Neither did trading up for receiver Anthony Miller a year later. But Pace also made aggressive moves up to land safety Eddie Jackson, running back David Montgomery, receiver Darnell Mooney and quarterback Justin Fields.

Sometimes it’s about timing. Sometimes it’s about need. Sometimes it’s about the way a draft board is unfolding.

Poles was asked Thursday whether he could articulate his philosophy for when it is prudent to trade up.

“It comes back down to your board,” he said. “There are different values on your board. And if you have certain players who are in a certain section of the board and it makes sense for your team at that time, then that’s something you have to do at the right time.”

In the last seven drafts, the Chiefs traded up more than the Bears, moving forward 11 times while dealing back just twice. Most notably, they traded up 17 slots in 2017 to pick quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who has been a league MVP and a Super Bowl champion in four years as a starter.

In that same draft, the Chiefs traded up in Round 3 for running back Kareem Hunt. But other trade-up moves during that span — for players such as receiver Jehu Chesson and defensive lineman Breeland Speaks — had a much worse return on investment.

There is always a caveat emptor warning attached to trading up in the NFL draft. And with the Bears needing to solidify their depth chart on both sides of the ball and having limited opportunities to do so, Poles might not be eager to trade up in his first draft.

“You have to know where your team is at and how many picks you have,” he said Thursday. “And it’s a big-picture decision. Because there is an effect of losing picks to move up and get that player.”

Instead, Poles figures to be far more motivated to shift the gear into “R,” seeking openings to add picks through calculated moves back.

“The biggest thing,” Poles said, “is how many players you have (slotted) at a certain level. Can you move back and get a quality player at that next spot? And then you also take into consideration that when you get kicked other picks, that’s an additional player. So where is that pick located in the draft? And can I still get a quality player at that level as well?”

As the Bears have done draft walk-throughs this week at Halas Hall, Poles has made sure his draft room and support staff are ready. They have staged fake trade calls and readied their draft charts, working through communication processes and addressing any hiccups before Thursday night arrives.

At some point this weekend, Poles figures to be on the phone with an opportunity to make a deal. This year, though, it seems far more probable that any such moves the Bears will make will be down the board rather than up.

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