Braxton Jones Has Regressed & Bears Drafted Kiran Amegadjie

Agreed. You want elite.

We're going to have to trade up in the draft to do this. Have fun acquiring one in FA and then trading for one would cripple two years worth of drafts assuming one is even available.

Convincing somebody to trade down from like 10 to about 20 is going to take some convincing.

10 may not even be high enough because by then the top 2 OL will be gone.

Are we willing to trade the #20, our second plus next year's third or fourth(?) to get a top 5 / 7 pick? That also assumes that we have a trade partner. The competition for a Top 5ish pick will be huge given the need for QBs at the range.

You can't be "elite" everywhere. And LT isn't even what the main issue with this line is. It's the interior. Even if you manage to snag a good LT in the draft, trading away draft capital that could potentially fix the rest of the line for one guy that might be an upgrade over Jones isn't a great idea. 

+1

I'm finding this discussion kind of amusing.  Didn't we have a similar discussion about who to draft in the first round in 2023?  As I recall, Poles was getting eviscerated here (and on most of social media) for not taking Jalen Carter and taking Darnell Wright (OT).  We took Gervon Dexter instead in the 2nd round.  And we were told by several posters here and elsewhere that what a mistake that was.  And that we could have gotten an OT of Wright's caliber on day 2.

Just look at Jalen Carter's stats for the 2024 season and compare them to Dexter's.  I sure hope Poles makes several more of this kind of "mistake" continuously in the future. Not only are Dexter's number way better, but we also have 2 or 3 other DL players who are outperforming Carter.

Poles has made his share of mistakes. IMO the most notable were getting Chase Claypool and Nate Davis.  But there have been others.  I am assuming that many of these are part of the learning curve of a rookie GM growing into the job.  But only time will tell on that.

I remember 1 or 2 people being upset about Carter not being taken, most were fine w/a young coach and a young, bad, team not taking a chance on a potential bad character in the top 10 regardless of the position.

btw, Carter was BPA, even after the trade back and Poles didn't take him, proof of point that bpa is a myth.