Nick Baumgardner talks Bears' outlook for NFL Draft (Hour 4)
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What is the Bears' current outlook for the NFL Draft?
I don't think the process changes. You're going to identify the guys that fit what we want in our football team, which coach hit, and you just keep trying to acquire those players. We know what they look like. We know how they act. They know how to talk. We'll continue to do that. I think that's part of the thing is, one, can you self-evaluate and be critical of yourself and your team to make sure that you know what you have in the building? And then can you just keep pounding away and stick into your process? You make tweaks, of course, but stick to the process of bringing in the right types of people. You tell them, Mr. Poles. Let them know what a good draft class looks like because you can finally do that.
It took a little while. But we got there. It's a ramp up. It's a ramp up. You need some experience. That is Ryan Poles talking about the draft process and building a team and what it takes and going out and getting the guys he likes. For more on that, we welcome in Nick Baumgardner.
How does Ryan Poles evaluate talent for the Bears?
He's the senior writer and NFL draft analyst for The Athletic. He joins us on the Circa Sports Illinois hotline. Download the Circa Sports app today. Nick, joining us on Rahimi Harris and Grody Russell Dorsey in alongside Marshall Harris. And Nick, it's about that time, I guess, right? What number of mock draft are you on right now? Um... Two or three? Two or three. I did the first three-rounder, so we're in the third-round area. So we're that deep into it now. What's so great about this is that you're saying two or three, and I'm still thinking about one because the Bears were actually in the playoffs, and that extended our discussion of the actual football season. I know. Back in the day, you guys have been looking at this stuff in like November, right?
Like after Thanksgiving, it had been like, okay, what's draft looking like, right? But it's like I'm in Detroit, so I know that feeling where it's like it's a lot better to – to have something else to think about maybe in January than what your team's going to draft. But, hey, look, it's draft season for everybody now, so that's good. Good for us. Yeah, you're thinking about depth and stuff like that now as opposed to, like, all right, where are all my starters going to come from? So here's my thing, Nick. As you're going through your draft prospects and – trying to grade guys and see where different fits are for people who are now switching their brain over to, okay, combines coming draft is coming.
What's a theme that is big in this year's draft compared to let's say last year's draft. Yeah, I think this year's draft is really unique in that the linebacker class is like for the first time in a while, it feels like there's more teams in the NFL that are more willing to lean into these hybrids and these special like unique athletes. And there's a lot of them this year. This is like this feels like the deepest linebacker group we've seen in quite some time. The two guys at the top, Arville Reese and Sonny Stiles, both from Ohio State, both 6'4", 240. And both kind of similar, you know, guys. They can get all over the place. They can run. They can wear different hats up front. They can rush off the edge.
The best case there might be like a Micah Parsons, right? And there's a lot of guys in this class like that as you go down the list. So you can go all the way down into like Pittsburgh as a kid. Kyle Lewis. Kyle Louie. Lewis. I can never remember how to say his name. He's like 6'2", 25, right? But he was one of the fastest players at the Senior Bowl, runs like a safety, but he's like 225, 230, kind of like what we see with Nicky Minwari there in Seattle, right? Obviously, he's a special case with his explosive and as fast as he is. But this class has a lot of guys who can kind of do different things, wear different hats, and maybe make defenses more explosive at a couple different levels. We're looking at this, and you mentioned linebacker.
A big discussion going on right now in Chicago, as I'm sure you know, is whether or not the Bears should move on from Tremaine Edmonds and relieve themselves of some cap pressure right now.
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Chapters
7 chapters
1
What is the Bears' current outlook for the NFL Draft?
0:02–1:00
2
How does Ryan Poles evaluate talent for the Bears?
1:00–9:23
3
What unique trends are emerging in this year's linebacker class?
9:23–14:58
4
Can the Bears find a quality linebacker in the draft?
14:58–19:51
5
What strategies should teams consider for drafting a quarterback?
19:51–29:35
6
How might the Bears approach their 25th pick in the draft?
29:35–37:25
7
What are the implications of trading down in the draft?
37:25–43:59
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