Bears Insider Thinks Ryan Poles Is Hinting At A Direction For 9th Pick

Join us as #ChicagoBears insider #CourtneyCronin reveals intriguing insights into #RyanPoles’ draft strategy. Discover why she believes Poles is leaning towards selecting either an offensive tackle or wide receiver with the 9th #NFLDraft pick. Don’t miss out on this exclusive analysis of the Bears’ draft plans!

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Number one thing I gleaned is that they’re not trading out of number one that’s you know I know there had been some idea that maybe if there were two guys they’re really in love with that maybe they would move off of that pick um and try to Garner some more draft

Capital I think it’s pretty clear from what we learned from Ryan poles today that they’re going to be the first team off the board as they should be with the number one overall pick next month but a lot of talk about Caleb Williams uh kind of closing the chapter on the Justin

Fields trade because this is the first time that we had heard from Ryan poles um you know since that whole thing went down since free agency started so a lot of lot of talking points but the quarterbacks still even with uh the field stuff in the rearview mirror were

You know big focal point of this morning I in terms of the Justin Fields chapter being closed he dispelled a lot of yeah we weren’t even putting him out there yes they had had trade talks all that stuff done has he also basically said to you it’s Caleb Williams we’re

Done here he hasn’t said that verbatim and I don’t expect Ryan poles too but um I mean everything is centered on Caleb Williams the entire conversation and and not to read too much into this so he’s going from here straight to LSU’s prod day he will not be at uncc’s prod day

They will have other people there but if you’re reading the tea leaves here cap and seeing where all the resources have been spent and the amount of time that’s already been been dedicated to getting to know Caleb Williams how does he take criticism how is he with his teammates

How is he you know what are the examples of his leadership there’s already so much there that would lead you to believe that that is the apple of their eye so to speak and the person that they are focusing on solely with that number one overall pick Courtney crony with us

Here as we talk about the Chicago Bears on ESPN 1000 and streaming on the ESPN Chicago app Courtney earlier we were talking about Keenan Allen uh and DJ Moore who’s going to be taken care of first we feel like both quarter both wide receivers will get paid probably

Keenan Allen first will be taking care with a longer deal do you anticipate that see I thought it was Po’s answer was interesting when I asked him about a contract extension because if we’re being realistic about this they did not trade a fourth round pick this year

Their own fourth round pick to have Keenan Allen here is a short-term rental it’s not like they’re a Super Bowl team this year but they’re getting closer to being a team that can be in contention of the playoff picture so Keenan Allen should finish out his career in Chicago he’s 32 years

Old but he’s going into the final year of his deal and I thought Paul his answer about how he felt like down the line yes that’s something that’s going to happen he wants him here long term but that he tries to be intentional with the way like the timing of some of these

Deals and of course you go back in your mind to last October last November montz sweat had not played a down of football but he got that contract extension done within five days and there there are reasons for that um certainly they you know they had to get it done before he

Played a snap of football and make sure that they were able to lock him up so he didn’t hit free agency but that also they didn’t do J Jaylen Johnson until the off season so the timing of these things do matter I in terms of if there’s a pattern they can follow

Because DJ Moore is up in after the 2025 season so he still got time I would imagine though it’s not going to be a well you have to come prove something in Chicago first and foremost Keenan Allen’s already proven himself he’s you know the health thing even though he’s

Been you know missed four games this year and has missed about 11 or 10 the last two seasons you know the health has still got to be what they factor into a potential deal for him and what that could look like because he’s 32 years old DJ Moore is 26 very different in

Terms of the wide receiver contracts and what they would how they would look a the years and the terms and everything else but I imagine that this off season something will get done with Keenan Allen and it’s not going to be hey prove it this year on the field before we give

You another deal in terms of you said there’s a couple of guys that he is locked in on at pick number N I believe one of those is Malik neighbors who do you believe the other one is depends I mean I I know like what the things that Ryan Paul said this morning

About you know they’ll take a quarterback at one and then what are you going to surround that guy with that sounded like a wide receiver like when you talk about you know the infrastructure and who you’re going to be putting around your quarterback it could be a defensive end if you’re

Looking holistically at B pict I mean that’s another option with the offensive line to me I was kind of drawing the conclusion from what he said that it’s an offensive lineman or it’s a wide receiver and for if Joe Walt’s there I mean that’s the question right

Like does he even get past eight I mean Atlanta’s at eight so probably going defense but to get past seven that’s a that’s a tough gamble that I think the Bears are going to have to take but they’re comfortable if they can trading out of nine that’s their one chance to

Garner more draft Capital since they’re not going to be doing it with a number one overall pick and if a situation popped up that would be one that I think Ryan poles would be willing to entertain you know pretty heavily considering there’s only four picks right now and

They do have you know by the time this the whole thing would be over they’d have 25 draft picks more or less in eight in in three years so that’s about eight a year and they’re confident with the roster and where it stands in that regard but they definitely wish that

They had more draft capital I can tell you that considering how this team has been built and how Ryan poles views the draft as a lifeblood of his program courney Cronin with us here on Captain J Hood on ESP 100000 I was fascinated I

Would have loved to be a fly on the wall when Ryan poles and Matty reflu call Justin Fields let him know he was traded I mean I I feel like is even before the call there had to be some knowledge from Justin fields to know when he took his

Information off his Instagram like I’m not going to be here for a while what I mean I how do you read that because to me when he took the Bears off his Instagram I think that was the beginning of the end I think that we can all draw that

Conclusion hoodie but I from my conversation I had a one-on-one with Ryan poles afterwards and there was that report that came out last Monday that fields’s team you know his agent David Metta his people had told the Bears we want to go to four teams only like trade

Us to one of these four teams with the Steelers being the team to from what I was told that was not completely accurate um it’s not like they came to the Bears with a list of four teams and said these are the only places we will

Accept a trade to you know clearly the Steelers were in it from the very start they had been linked to Justin fields ever since Adam shefer went on the McAfee show in January and said you know about the quarterback movement said the other thing oh by the way Mike Tomlin

Really likes Justin field so that was kind of a no-brainer but it wasn’t I didn’t have that’s something that needs to be cleared up that it wasn’t that Justin went in and said hey these are my trade demands only trade me here it’s not going to work out well um but he he

Clearly knew in this process and I I think Justin is still on a European trip so it’s not like the Steelers beat has had a chance to talk to him yet I’ll be curious about what that what that Tipping Point was for him when he knew

It was truly over in Chicago because you go back to that St Brown Brothers podcast that he did in February and you could just kind of sense that he was he knew he was going to be moving on the ambiguity of the situation how he felt about the

Situation pointed to him knowing that his time in Chicago was up but the Bears handled it with you know Kevin Warren was pretty instrumental in this trade which should come to the surprise of nobody I mean he was instrumental in the montz sweat trade he was instrumental um

In a lot of the conversation that went into this thing coming into play as quickly as it did because going back to that Friday um and this is from some reporting that I’ve done throughout the last couple of last week it wasn’t like Kenny picket gets traded the Bears are

Like all right time to move Justin that came together on Saturday the Bears and the Steelers were not in much conversation that Friday about pulling a deal off that came together very quickly from my understanding and I know the conversations with Matt eflu and those

Those two going to uh e Flo’s house and probably putting the phone on speaker and and talking to Justin fields that way and then Ryan poles and Kevin Warren in the conversations that they had ultimately leading to the Bears clearing the deck sooner than many expected them

To all of those were part of the overall fabric of how this trade came together but it came together far far quicker it wasn’t just everybody can like point to connecting the dots it wasn’t that simple uh with the way that everything kind of was a slurry on Saturday before

They ultimately moved him for a 20256 in terms of Ryan poles and Hoodie played the audio earlier talking about just uh excuse me Caleb’s character and I haven’t found one person that doesn’t you know isn’t effusive basically in their Praise of him as a person and he

Also went on to say he never looked at his cell phone the entire time we were at dinner which is unusual for a 22-year-old he was engaged and he was intentional as he called it in his conversations you don’t go to that level unless you’ve basically confirmed in

Your mind the Medicals are going to be fine we’re good right shoot I I mean I look at my I’m 33 and I don’t think I can get through a whole dinner without checking my phone or checking my watch to see what’s going on so I thought that

Was interesting and they talk about being intentional and the character remember Ryan poles has consistently said he wants to know the person behind the football player and when I had a conversation with him one-on-one this morning part of that was how do you take criticism so like one of the one of the

Things they talked about with Caleb Williams in that me not necessarily the dinner but like their meetings that they had with him at USC two hands on the football how do you you know ball security all of those things that you know the guy had you know many

Interceptions but the fumbles how how can you go about correcting that and and toles told me he was very open and honest about it and realizing that that’s something he needs to improve upon and if you think about fields and how Justin figured into this whole conversation the Bears eliminated their

Fail safe when they traded Justin field so you know that they had to be sure that everything character medical all of it was going to check out with Caleb Williams had you know in in order for them to be confident in moving just in when they did because if they if they

Were if they thought something might pop up because remember Caleb didn’t give his medical at the prod day he didn’t do it at at the combine like he said he was only going to visit a couple of teams he’s coming to Chicago next week and that’s where all of that will come into

Play they have Scouts on the road too who track those things there was a hamstring injur injury uh that poles had mentioned about with the medical that it’s you know they the scouts track things like that they can they they have people who have eyes on these guys during the year and that

That’s like the most important thing that of just knowing that that there wouldn’t be something completely unforeseen pop up that they would be comfortable in moving forward with Caleb and with or with whoever but we all think it’s going to be Caleb Williams and moving off of Justin when they did

And eliminating their backup plan more or less courney with the Bears were able to acquire some quality depth We Believe on the offensive line by getting Matt Pryor and Ryan Bates and out and Coleman Shelton on my depth chart is the starting center are are the Bears set

Based on your conversation with poles is he happy with that five are are the I guess the ultimate question are the were the Bears a Coleman Shelton away from having stability at the offensive line well what I can tell you about that and I know Paul said I wrote it down in my

Um in my notes this morning the thing that disappointed him about that position specifically was the depth and versatility you know really they just weren’t cut out for that on the interior of the offensive line and that bothered him lot he’s a former offensive lineman

He gets the need to be flexible at that position that’s why they put so many things so many resources into trying to get Ryan Bates initially and then um you know going out and signing Coleman Shelton to my understanding guys Shelton’s not starting it’s if if the

Plan right now for the Bears is that Ryan Bates who they tried to go after two years ago couldn’t get him basically get him for the contract that he was signed to by Buffalo and they matched that offer sheet Ryan Bates will be the starter like

Going into this season now I don’t know how sexy that is of a of a headline but that’s a pretty big deal when this is a you’re bringing in a brand new quarterback they can’t have a trial process they’ve got to make sure that the issues with Center position that

Happened last year don’t pop up again this year really the last two years with Justin fields and Lucas Patrick or Justin fields and Cody white hair and the you know the rotating cast that he had to deal with so they’re comfortable with Ryan B and Coleman Shelton having

Played as a starter in La for the last couple of years is really good depths on the interior but that’s a job for Ryan Bates to lose at this point hey before we let you go they took the annual coaches photo and the GM photo and

Neither polls or Eber flu were there why I wish I knew the answer to that I’m gonna guess it’s because that happened yesterday and I know that polls was doing some media availability during the day um and that very well could have been overlapping when they didn’t do when they did the

Coach’s photo Eber flu played golf down here too he’s a very very good golfer and I would imagine that it would not probably be a Preposterous uh theory that he might have been playing golf during that or he might have had meetings I mean not everybody’s always in the coach’s photo

But it’s uh you know that’s you know cap that’s the first question I’m asking him tomorrow when we get to the coach’s breakfast at 7:45 a. why weren’t you in the pH yeah maybe they were off making a deal no I I don’t think that that’s the

Case I think it’s be something more benign like somebody’s in the middle of an interview or somebody’s in the middle of a round of golf got it it makes sense to me and and what would you rather do Courtney in that spot golf pitcher

Golf I mean if I had a shirt as cool as Andy Reeds I’d probably be in the picture but um no I mean it’s it’s beautiful weather down here the well you know they do all of the meetings and the big owner’s party is tonight so that’s a

It’s always a really cool time when they put that on and you get to see people in a different in a different environment and then tomorrow’s the coach’s breakfast and we’ll also hear from Kevin Warren and George mccy so a lot of Stadium business uh on Deck as well to

Talk about kind of where things are in that process as after the team has already you know set its sight set its sights on on building a stadium in Chicago and you know lot lot to sort through with all of that as well