Something big is cooking at the Chicago Bears right now. The 2025 NFL Draft is just around the corner, and Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson are not willing to miss one particular draft prospect—even if they have to break character. Two days ago, we saw Ryan Poles on the Pro Day of one of the most elite college football teams. And who turned the heads of the Bears GM and defensive coordinator Dennis Allen at those Pro Day workouts? Let’s find out.
Since the Bears GM and defensive coordinator visited the Michigan Wolverines‘ facility, debates, rumors, and speculations have been piling up. And one of the most important speculations connected with the Chicago Bears is Michigan’s defensive tackle, Mason Graham. On The Big Pro Football Show, David Haugh and former NFLer Clay Harbor discussed the same topic. The major question they debated was: Will Ryan Poles trade up for Mason Graham?
Ryan Poles has never traded up in the first round of the draft.
Should he break that trend and trade up for Michigan DT Mason Graham? @DavidHaugh | @clayharbs82 | #BigPFBShow pic.twitter.com/bfyZRuMBZT
— Bears on CHSN (@CHSN_Bears) March 24, 2025
And before making any speculations on trading up or down, we can’t ignore the fact that the GM has never traded up in the first round of the draft! In the NFL world, Poles has a reputation for never losing his assets for a draft pick. If we analyze his strategies, in the 2023 draft, he traded up in the second round but not in the first round on Day Two. On Day One, he decided to trade down from the 9th spot to the 10th in the same draft. Similarly, in the previous year, the Bears GM traded down to the 20th spot in later rounds of the draft—solidifying his approach of trading down and preserving assets.
David Haugh logically pointed out that Graham is potentially one of the top 10 picks, and by the time Ryan Poles gets a chance to pick, another team will likely have taken him, as the Bears hold the 10th position. In fact, the Jacksonville Jaguars, who have the 5th pick, are also interested in Mason Graham. So what could Ryan Poles do to draft Graham? Well, they might have to give up two second-rounders (No. 39 and 41) for him. Clay Harbor also weighed in, saying, “Mason Graham is a safe pick,” while supporting the Bears trading up for the Michigan Wolverines defensive tackle, who has made a staggering 61 total tackles in his three-year career at Michigan.
With fans and experts expecting Graham to be one of the top DTs in the NFL in the future—and since he is one of the best players Michigan has ever produced—serious talks must be going on in the Bears headquarters right now. But while the Mason Graham discussion is heating up, Ben Johnson has added another piece to the defensive side of his roster.
Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson welcomed another defender
Ben Johnson’s franchise has agreed to terms with Nick McCloud to strengthen the Bears’ defensive squad. Though the contract details have not been revealed yet, the former Notre Dame defensive back has signed a one-year deal with the Bears.
Source: Getty
Nick McCloud entered the league as an undrafted free agent for the Buffalo Bills in 2021. Since then, he has been with five NFL teams, excluding Ryan Poles’ Chicago Bears. But since his first year in the big league, McCloud’s performance has stood out—except for the previous season, with the San Francisco 49ers, which was not great. He played only eight games with the 49ers and made a total of 14 tackles, of which only four were solo and seven were assists.
McCloud’s best season was in 2022 when he was with the New York Giants. That season, he played in 14 games and made a total of 43 tackles—35 of them solo. In the same year, he also had 1.5 quarterback sacks and blocked one kick. So, Ryan Poles’ Bears are on the right track. We will have to wait until the first night of the NFL Draft at Packers Stadium for Mason Graham, but fans can take a sigh of relief with Nick McCloud’s signing.
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