Curtis Enis. Marc Colombo. Shea McClellin. Kevin White.
Ryan Poles has a low bar to clear with his first draft pick as the Bears’ general manager. From Mark Hatley to Jerry Angelo to Phil Emery to Ryan Pace, first-time Bears personnel executives (Hatley was vice president of player personnel, the others were general managers) have not had much luck with their initial draft pick.
The great Jim Finks set the standard for the post-Halas era in his first Bears draft in 1975, when he took Jackson State running back Walter Payton with the fourth overall pick. He was so convinced Payton was a future star that he acknowledged he would have taken Payton first overall — ahead of Cal quarterback Steve Bartkowski —if he had the No.