Trading down in the 1st round is hardly anything uncommon these days. Teams do it quite often. The Chicago Bears do not. When examining their history over the past 40 years, it’s happened only twice. Ryan Poles made it a third time when he sent the #1 pick to Carolina for #9, D.J. Moore, and a package of picks. He seems confident that he can still find a quality player further down the board. He’s hardly alone in such feelings. Plenty of GMs believe in their evaluations enough to justify such moves.
Except it’s not as easy as people think. Sure, the extra picks are great. It gives the organization extra chances to land good players. However, failing to get one in the 1st round tends to dampen the enthusiasm for such a move. Few know this better than Bears fans. The other two times their team moved down in the 1st didn’t exactly end well.
2003 – Moved down from #4 to #14 and took Michael Haynes, DE, Penn State
Lost out on:
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- Terence Newman
- Jordan Gross
- Kevin Williams
- Terrell Suggs
- Marcus Trufant
Passed on:
- Troy Polamalu
- Calvin Pace
- Jeff Faine
1999 – Moved down from #7 to #12 and took Cade McNown, QB, UCLA
Lost out on:
- Champ Bailey
- Chris McCalister
- Daunte Culpepper
Passed on:
- John Tait
- Jevon Kearse
- Damian Woody
Haynes had a breakout year at Penn State in 2002. That didn’t translate to the NFL. He played only three seasons and finished with 5.5 career sacks. McNown was even worse. He started 15 games, went 3-12, threw 16 touchdowns, 19 interceptions, and alienated the locker room in a span of only two years.
The Chicago Bears must trust Poles.
They have no other choice. Mark Hatley got the player he wanted but didn’t turn out well. Jerry Angelo clearly moved down too far, failing to secure the pass rusher his defense needed. Again, it comes back to the evaluation. Those guys didn’t do theirs properly. Poles likely has a good idea of who will be available when he goes on the clock at 9th overall next week. If he decides to stay put, he better hope those evaluations were solid because this rebuild can’t afford him whiffing on his first-ever 1st round pick.
One must admire the guts if nothing else. Most GMs would have it in them to give up the #1 overall pick. It’s the golden ticket to literally any player they want in an entire draft. Poles recognized his roster is more than one player away from competing. He clearly has a low opinion of the top names in this class. So the Chicago Bears will take their chances further down the board.
