Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles might get some flak for his free agent signings over the years, but when it comes to the draft, he's been pretty darn good at that.
Over the years, Poles has drafted guys who have made a significant impact on the team, helping them make the postseason run they did last season, like Caleb Williams, Rome Odunze, Kyle Monangai, Luther Burden III, Colston Loveland, Ozzy Trapilo, Darnell Wright, and more. ESPN NFL analyst Aaron Schatz further demonstrated this by ranking the Bears as the league's third-best team based on talent under 25.
"Once again, the most important young talent a team can have is at quarterback. And the Bears have a budding star in Williams, who threw for 3,942 yards and 27 touchdowns in 2025. He will be 25 on Nov. 18. His top targets are all under 25, as well. Odunze is 24, while Luther Burden III and Loveland are still just 22. Even the backups to those guys are young; the Bears used third-round picks on tight end Sam Roush and wide receiver Zavion Thomas, also both 22.
Elsewhere on the roster, you will find left tackle Ozzy Trapilo, who is 24 but was discounted a bit because of a torn patellar tendon that will cost him part of this season. Defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr. is 24, and last year's second-round pick, edge rusher Shemar Turner, is 23. This year's draft picks add more impact youth, headlined by safety Dillon Thieneman (age 22) and center Logan Jones (24)."
Ryan Poles has been great at drafting young talent over the years
Most of the work Poles has done has been on offense, with many of those players ending up hitting. That core group of young players on that side of the ball will set the franchise's foundation for a very long time.
Where Poles could do a better job in the future is on defense. Dexter has turned out to be a good pick, but outside of that, the Bears are still waiting to see some of those young defenders step up. Turner has a chance to be good, but hasn't played enough snaps to be confident in getting the job done.
One defender who should give Bears fans hope that they finally found good young talent is Thieneman. He might be by far the best defender this Bears team has drafted in a long time, and his versatility gives them a weapon they have not had in that secondary in a long time.
Of course, everything falls on Williams and whether he can become the elite quarterback he has the potential to be. The reason this franchise has only one Super Bowl is because of the countless amount of times they failed at quarterback, so Williams has to work out.
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Poles still deserves a ton of credit for finding this great talent and putting the Bears in a position to succeed in the future. The next year or two will really determine how far he hit a home run with this group of young players.
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