The Chicago Bears may have been somewhat pigeonholed into it, but their decision to select Logan Jones appears to have had a noteworthy ripple effect on another squad.
Jones was or near being the top-rated center of this class, per ESPN in April. He is, at least presumably, stepping into a reserve role behind offseason trade acquisition Garrett Bradbury. The Bears added Bradbury to replace Pro Bowl pivot Drew Dalman, who unexpectedly retired this offseason.
New details add telling context to the Bears’ selection.
Bears Foiled Ravens’ Draft & Trade Plans
Bears Beat Ravens to Logan Jones
Baltimore Ravens general manager Eric DeCosta spoke candidly in a behind-the-scenes video that recapped their 2026 NFL Draft process and results.
The AFC club was targeting Jones before the Bears swooped in and selected him with the 57th overall pick. The Ravens were apparently in talks with the Houston Texans about a trade. Their would-be deal would have sent the 80th overall pick in this draft and a 2027 third-rounder for Pick No. 59.
That deal fell through, though, with Jones coming off the board.
“There were a couple players, a couple centers, that we like, Logan Jones and Jake Slaughter. And the reality of it was, for us, that we had Zion [Young] so high on the draft board–we had him as a first-round-type pick–that we were picking Zion at 45. And we weren’t able to navigate the board between 45 and 80 to get one of those two guys. It wasn’t for lack of effort,” DeCosta said on the “Inside the Ravens” video published on May 18.
“We had a plan, I think at 80, potentially, where we could move up a little bit to get one of those guys. I feel like that was something we were going to get done.”
The Los Angeles Chargers took Slaughter with the 63rd overall pick. That left the Ravens, who lost speculative Bears free agency target Tyler Linderbaum to the Las Vegas Raiders this offseason, without their top two replacement options in the draft.
Houston selected Michigan tight end Marlin Klein 59th overall.
The Ravens opted for USC wide receiver Jakobi Lane. He is a former teammate of Caleb Williams, whom the Bears quarterback touted leading up to the draft.
Ravens ‘Regret’ Missing on Logan Jones, Jake Slaughter
DeCosta said he would have felt more comfortable pulling the trigger on a deal had they gotten into the “early 70s.” The executive also pointed to the input from former Bears and current Ravens offensive coordinator Declan Doyle and expressed his [DeCosta’s] “love for our picks.”
DeCosta and the Ravens emerged from the 2026 draft with 11 players, four more than Poles and the Bears.
However, they failed to come away with an essential piece of their offensive line.
“We realized it would probably take our third-round pick, a fourth-round pick, and then a fifth-round pick. That ends up being Jakobi Lane, Eli Sarratt, and Chandler [Rivers]; three really good players. And is it worth giving up those three guys to go up and, maybe, get one of those centers? It’s a hard decision. As much as I regret not getting a center, I don’t regret any of our picks at all,” DeCosta said.
“The fact that Dwayne [Ledford] and Declan are comfortable with what we did, and the fact that they’re so excited about players like Jakobi and Sarratt, makes me comfortable and makes me feel good that we actually did the best we could do in that situation.”
Baltimore’s most experienced option is Danny Pinter. He is a seventh-year former fifth-round pick (2020) of the Indianapolis Colts who has 10 starts in 77 career appearances.
Bears Missed Out on Position Ravens Prioritized
One good turn deserves another, and Poles and the Bears may have very well been getting theirs back after the Ravens took Young.
He was the fifth EDGE off the board in the second round, where six total were selected this year. That was after five were taken in Round 1. There were 10 edge defenders selected from Rounds 3 through 6, until a five-prospect swan song in the seventh.
“The board, the class. A little life at the back of the round. It’s different. But it’s really how the board shook out,” Poles told reporters in April when asked directly why the Bears did not draft an EDGE over the first two days. “When we made that turn into [Round] 2, [we] had a good sense through our research that that was going to kind of be a hot spot at the very top of two. Wasn’t really possible to get up that high without giving up a ton. And at the end of the day, we just follow the board.”
Like the Ravens at center, the Bears are left to internal options at EDGE, at least for now.
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