Ryan Poles’ third-round track record has been rough enough that the Bears are looking at their newest Day 2 picks with a different kind of urgency.
Since Poles took over as Chicago’s general manager in 2022, the Bears have used five third-round selections. The names are already a reminder of how quickly those bets have gone sideways: Velus Jones Jr. in 2022, Zacch Pickens in 2023, Kiran Amegadjie in 2024, and then Sam Roush and Zavion Thomas in 2026.
Only two of those five players are still on the roster, and the first three never gave the team much reason to feel good about the investment.
Jones came in as a wide receiver and return man after the Bears took a swing on a 25-year-old rookie. He appeared in 34 games and finished with 12 catches for 135 yards and one touchdown before Chicago waived him in Oct. 2024.
Pickens followed with a quiet two-year run of his own. In 26 games, the defensive tackle produced 39 total tackles, 1.5 sacks, one forced fumble and one pass defensed. The Bears waived him during the final round of roster cuts in 2025.
Amegadjie’s path was even shorter. The offensive tackle played in just six games, all during his rookie season, and the Bears tried to move him inside to guard last season. He couldn’t stay healthy and didn’t deliver on the field, and Chicago released him as part of final roster cutdowns.
That’s the backdrop for Roush and Thomas, who now have a chance to interrupt a pretty ugly pattern.
The Bears skipped the third round in 2025, then came back this year and used picks on both players. Their early summer work has given the team at least a few reasons to hope.
Thomas flashed in the preseason finale against the Titans, hauling in five passes for 140 yards and a touchdown. Roush turned in his best practice of the summer during the joint practice against Tennessee.
That doesn’t guarantee anything, of course. August highlights only mean so much, and both rookies will need far more than that to avoid the same fate as Poles’ earlier third-round picks.
Still, there’s one important difference this time: Roush and Thomas are starting their NFL careers with Ben Johnson as their head coach. The Bears’ previous Day 2 picks didn’t have that advantage when they entered the league.
That alone puts the two rookies in a better spot to grow into useful players. And if they do, Chicago finally gets some return from a draft slot that has been a problem area for Poles - and a boost to the depth of the roster at the same time.
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