Ranking the Bears' GM Candidates

The main thing the Bears need is someone who will consistently deliver in drafts, because that's how the best teams in the NFL have been built. Free agency can only add so much. So looking at the Bears' general manager candidates, who will fit that mold? We took a closer look and ranked them in order of best to oh-good-heavens-not-under-any-circumstance.

1. Chargers director of player personnel Jimmy Raye
: According to CSN Chicago, Raye will be the first to interview at Halas Hall. With the Chargers, he moved up through the ranks from the college scouting side. With Raye having an important role in drafts, the Chargers picked LaDainian Tomlinson, Drew Brees, Philip Rivers, Quentin Jammer, Vincent Jackson, Darren Sproles, and Ryan Matthews. He had less of a role in letting so many of those great players get away. He clearly has an eye for hidden talent. Sproles and LT were both considered undersized when they came out of college.

2. Giants director of college scouting Marc Ross: Like Raye, Ross comes from the college scouting side of the front office, and has extensive experience running drafts. With Ross running drafts, they have picked up several key players of this year's playoff team, including Ahmad Bradshaw, Kevin Boss, Mario Manningham and Terrell Thomas. Bradshaw was drafted in the seventh round in 2007, and was the Giants leading rusher during the regular season.

3. Patriots director of pro personnel Jason Licht: The overwhelming feeling I get when reading Licht's resume is meh. He's held his current job with the Patriots for just three years, and it's a job that doesn't focus on the college side of things. In that time, New England has drafted Rob Gronkowski, and Aaron Hernandez and Julian Edelman in late rounds, but not many other notable players. Licht needs more seasoning.

4. Chiefs director of college scouting Phil Emery:  Once a regional scout for the Bears, Emery has served as a director of college scouting since 2004. He held that role with the Falcons before heading to the Chiefs. He's had few notable draft picks in Kansas City but was responsible for the Falcons picking up Matt Ryan and Roddy White. One strike against him among Bears fans? He drafted Frank Omiyale. 

5. Bears director of player personnel Tim Ruskell:
Here's an idea: Fire the general manager, then consider his consigliere for his job. Oh, what? That's what the Bears are doing? He ran Seattle into the ground, and helped Angelo create this shallow, unbalanced team. No to Ruskell. 

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