Bears, Pats top personnel execs talk draft … The most popular guy at the scouting combine in Indianapolis so far this week has been Chicago GM Ryan Poles, whose Bears have the #1 pick overall. In particular, there has been some buzz around the league of late that the Bears might consider trading from the top pick. However, Poles indicated at his combine presser earlier today that while a few teams have called to kick the tires about a possible deal he hasn’t had any talks that could be described as substantive. In fact, sources close to the Bears are indicating that the only real question in Chicago is not whether they hold onto the top pick and select USC QB Caleb Williams, but how long before the Bears pull the plug and trade incumbent starter Justin Fields. In his presser, Poles stressed that he needs to be “blown away” by a prospect to take a QB, but then went on to gush over Williams whom he called an artist and who has “pieces to his game that are similar” to what he saw in Patrick Mahomes when he evaluated him prior to the 2017 draft. Said Poles of Williams “he has a really good feel for the game … he has the big arm and can spin it from different angles… his pocket presence is really good. Poles did note that there are some aspects of Williams’ game that he needs to clean up along the lines of trying to do too much can cause you to hold the ball, but added that “at the same time, there’s a guy who’s not afraid to make big plays. You can see him understand his entire team and what he had to do to win games. There’s a lot to like in terms of talent.”
Poles also dropped more than a few hints that the Bears are preparing to move on from Fields saying that if he were to be traded that the team wanted to ‘do right’ by the player and make a move sooner rather than later. Translated: any team interested in acquiring Fields in a trade needs to get on the horn and get their bid in. Stay tuned.
At the same time, if there is a team that’s second to the Bears in being the most interesting out there its probably New England which has the #3 pick overall and an even greater need at QB than Chicago. And there has been some buzz out of New England that the Patriots would consider passing on the 3rd QB in the draft and either trade the pick or select a player like star Ohio State WR Marvin Harrison. No surprise, though that the Patriots’ director of scouting Eliot Wolf, the team’s de facto GM, didn’t give much away at his presser earlier today. All that Wolf said was that all options are on the table including a trade. However, he did admit its a good class noting that the one thing he really likes about the top guys ‘look like they’re really tough guys, which is obviously great at any position, but the quarterback position especially.” Wolf also confirmed that the Patriots would be meeting with the top 3 QBs this week this week including Williams, LSU’s Jayden Daniels and Drake Maye of North Carolina. Interestingly, Wolf also indicated that the Patriots will be making major changes to their grading system by going to a more value oriented ranking. In the past under Bill Belichik, the Patriots tended to rate players largely on how well they fit their scheme.
