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It’s not that the Chicago Bears did a bad job in the 2025 NFL Draft. And they are trying to remedy what they missed out on getting. But the details emerged of their failed trade-up efforts for a star running back.
Unfortunately, the Bears may long regret the decision not to trade up and get Ashton Jeanty. The Boise State product wound up going to the Raiders at No. 6. It appears the Bears could have made the deal for their No. 10 picks and a second-round pick. But general manager Ryan Poles didn’t connect the dots, according to chicagotribune.com.
“It just didn’t make sense,” Poles said.
Maybe it will come into focus as the 2025 season unfolds.
Considered a true game-changing running back, the Bears might have gotten the missing piece for an explosive offense under first-year head coach Ben Johnson, according to Dan Wiederer of the Chicago Tribune.
“Jeanty was widely considered one of the truly elite prospects of the draft class, regardless of position,” Wiederer wrote. “And while the Bears made exploratory but purposeful calls to gauge trade-up possibilities, Poles couldn’t justify the price tag for jumping ahead of the Raiders at No. 6 even with the Browns open for business on trades at No. 5.
So, the Bears tried to make a move to get TreVeyon Henderson.
“A deal with the Tennessee Titans at No. 35 felt possible,” Wiederer wrote. “Until it wasn’t. The Titans found a better offer from the Seattle Seahawks.”
The Bears also tried to get to No. 37, but couldn’t pull it off. That allowed Henderson to land with the Patriots at No. 38.
They also whiffed on Virginia Tech’s Bhayshul Tuten, along with many other NFL teams like the Commanders, who may be kicking themselves soon. Another guy the Bears missed out on was Cam Skattebo. He would have made a nice fit for the power part of Johnson’s offense.
Poles said the organization pivoted when things didn’t go the right way.
“You wind up in some really cool situations in acquiring talented players who might come from a different position than you maybe would have liked them to,” Poles said. “But at the end of the day, you’re increasing the talent on your football team. And I do think you can get into a lot of trouble when you start trying to manipulate things to get into certain pockets and it ends up hurting your team long term.”
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