Bears General Manager Ryan Poles said Tuesday that he doesn’t like the “rebuild” word to describe his team. He is OK with “remodel.”
But a rebuild is a rebuild by any other name.
The Bears, who have not had a winning season since 2018, traded Khalil Mack and lost Allen Robinson in free agency. Eddie Goldman, Danny Trevathan, Akiem Hicks and Tarik Cohen also are gone.
The team signed free agents Lucas Patrick, Justin Jones and Al-Quadin Muhammad.
The Bears don’t have a first-round choice, having traded it and a fourth-rounder to the Giants last April to move up nine spots in the first round to choose quarterback Justin Fields at No. 11. A 2022 seventh-round choice went to the Texans in the Anthony Miller trade last year.
That leaves the Bears with only six choices, hardly as much draft capital as a team in a remodel needs.
With that in mind, the Bears will go into this weekend’s three-day draft looking to acquire more picks.
“I do think we will be in the business -- depending on where it is and what it looks like -- in moving back and trying to create more (draft capital),” Poles said, via NFL Media.
Poles did add a caveat to trading down.
“For draft picks, I would like to do some movement and get more picks, but it’s got to be in the right area,” Poles said, via Larry Mayer of the team website. “The biggest thing is how many players you have at a certain level, so you can move back and get a quality player at that next spot. And when you get kicked other picks, that’s an additional player. So, where is that pick located at in the draft and can I still get a quality player at that level as well? Also, you can accumulate on the back end and package things up and move them again. So, really it’s just the volume and where the draft is deep at certain positions.”