What Bears GM Ryan Poles’ friends say he will do with No. 9 pick if no trade

While there may not be any drama related to what the Chicago Bears will do with the 1st overall pick in the 2024 NFL Draft, it’s still a mystery what general manager Ryan Poles will do with the 9th overall pick. There are theories aplenty out there right now as to what the Bears will decide to do. There’s a large contingent of draft experts that believe that Poles will trade the 9th pick and move back in the draft, accumulating more picks to make up for the fact that the Bears enter the weekend with just four picks, which is what I predicted in my 7-round mock draft last week.

There’s another much smaller contingent that is starting to believe that Poles and the Bears may be aggressive in pursuing Marvin Harrison Jr., potentially trading the 9th pick and more to move up and select the consensus #1 receiver prospect. Then there’s the much simpler alternative: the Bears could decide to stand pat at 9 and take the best player available, adding to what is already shaping up to be a surprisingly talented roster that is ready to win right away. And according to Sports Illustrated’s Albert Breer, those close to Ryan Poles believe they have a feel for what the Bears GM would do if the Bears were to make a pick at 9.

“If the Bears stick, a couple of friends of GM Ryan Poles said they think he’ll be looking to add talent around Williams,” writes Breer. “So if one of the top three receivers slide to Chicago, DJ Moore and Keenan Allen could get a running mate. If not? Maybe an offensive lineman or Texas 3-technique Byron Murphy II.”

Assuming that the intel on Murphy is correct, that leaves seven players that I can see Chicago selecting with the 9th pick depending on who is left on the board: Byron Murphy II (DT, Texas), Dallas Turner (Edge, Alabama), Olu Fashanu (OT, Penn State), Joe Alt (OT, Notre Dame), Malik Nabers (WR, LSU), Rome Odunze (WR, Washington), or Brock Bowers (TE, Georgia).

In my 7-round mock, I had the Bears trading back and selecting UCLA’s Laiatu Latu, addressing a need at edge rusher. Taking Latu at 9 felt like a reach, and even though I feel the same way about Turner and Murphy, both of those two prospects have been included in the top ten of various mock drafts I’ve seen.

It’s a possibility that both Joe Alt and Olu Fashanu could be off the board by 9, but there’s also a chance that a run on quarterbacks and receivers leaves the Bears with the option of the two. Alt is viewed as the better of the two prospects, and solidifying the left side of the offensive line for the next decade with Caleb Williams wouldn’t be a bad outcome for the 1st Round of the Draft.

Rome Odunze seems to be the most popular name heading to Chicago with the 9th pick, but if Malik Nabers were still on the board, I think he would receive some consideration as well.

Brock Bowers is a bit of a dark-horse option given how high the Bears are on Cole Kmet. This is strictly an upside play, and an acknowledgement that new Bears offensive coordinator Shane Waldron used either two or three tight ends on 30% of snaps last season with Seattle, according to Erik Christopher Duerrwaechter of Windy City Gridiron. Bowers is on record saying that “it would be pretty sweet” to play with Caleb Williams (h/t Josh Schrock of NBC Sports Chicago).

And to be honest, I can’t help but agree with him.