5 things we learned about Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles draft weekend

2. Ryan Poles will trade down, but also trade up

We saw last year that Ryan Poles is not afraid to trade down. However, you had to wonder if that was because Poles entered the year with so few picks thanks to Ryan Pace. He essentially had to trade down or risk having almost no draft.

Ryan Poles answered the question a few minutes into the draft when he traded down from nine to 10, knowing the Eagles loved Jalen Carter. Poles also traded down to start day three, knowing that teams had a guy circled they could not miss out on.

However, his day three did not contain as many moves as the past year, probably because he had so many more picks. Beyond that, Ryan Poles mainly traded down from that top spot in round four because he wanted to get a pick back for trading up in round two. He accomplished that.

Poles traded up for Tyrique Stevenson, showing that it is not just a big quest to stack picks. He has a big-picture plan, and he has values for every player. If a player is not worth the value, he will trade down, but if a player is worth it, he will get aggressive and move up. What is nice with Poles is that he knows if he does trade up, trading back later opens the door to recoup the loss.