The NFL offseason has begun and the league will kick it off by hosting its annual scouting combine in Indianapolis starting Tuesday.

Both Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson are expected to meet with reporters at the start of the week. It will be the first time both will speak since they held their end-of-season press conference after the team lost in the NFC divisional round.

Chicago will be in a different position at the combine compared to past years. It will be the first time in four years that the Bears don’t own a top-10 pick in the draft. But the Bears will need to use the draft in order to build upon a successful 2025 with not much salary cap space.

Here are three things that we can learn from the Bears at the combine.

Where are the picks?

Tuesday will be the first time Poles will speak with reporters after the Atlanta Falcons hired former Bears assistant general manager Ian Cunningham to be their general manager. Normally an assistant general manager hiring doesn’t garner much attention from fans. But this situation was different.

Many expected the Bears to receive two third-round compensatory draft picks for Cunningham’s hiring as part of the NFL’s Rooney Rule. Teams usually receive two third-round compensatory, one each in the next two drafts, for developing a minority executive who received a promotion.

But the Bears reportedly won’t receive those picks since Cunningham won’t be the Falcons’ decision-maker. The NFL views new team president Matt Ryan as the franchise’s leader, even though Ryan has said in a few interviews that he’ll rely on Cunningham to lead the way in the team’s free agency and draft strategy.

It’s not clear how much if anything Poles will have to say on the matter. He’ll likely congratulate Cunningham, who’s a close friend, on his promotion and say that Cunningham deserves the role.

Poles could provide some clarity on the situation, though. Most importantly, he could say whether there’s anything the Bears can do, whether the team views it as an issue and whether Bears owner and chairman George McCaskey and president and CEO Kevin Warren are talking with the league about the matter.

Managing the salary cap

Poles and Johnson will get a chance to expand more on their plans for the roster this offseason, primarily how they plan to manage the salary cap.

Chicago will need to make some tough decisions this offseason to get under the cap even with the expectation that it will be raised over $300 million for the first time. The Bears entered the offseason in the bottom 10 of cap space and will need to create more room if they want to improve different parts of their roster.

Poles didn’t get into much detail about how the Bears could manage the cap at the end of the season. He mostly said that there will be tough decisions to be made this offseason and he will likely echo that next week.

But fans could get an insight in how Poles plans on managing the cap with certain answers. He could give insight into how likely it is to restructure contracts with some players. There are players who could become cap casualties in the coming weeks and how Poles answers questions about certain players could provide hints into what he could do.

It could also provide hints into what Poles won’t do. If Poles doesn’t seem open to making big moves that would affect the cap beyond getting under it, that might take the Bears away from being big spenders in free agency or making a blockbuster trade.

Bears’ draft focus

A major focus next week will be honing in who the Bears might target in the draft in April. Chicago will have a chance to meet with the 319 prospects who will come to the combine.

Poles’ draft approach might change since he won’t have a top-10 pick anymore. There are usually clear choices when choosing early in the draft. But with the No. 25 overall pick, Poles might choose to go with the best player available at certain positions instead of a specific position.

The Bears will likely tackle three different defensive spots to address some issues on the roster. Poles should look to shore up either or both the defensive tackle or defensive end positions with his top picks after the defensive line struggled to pressure opposing quarterbacks and stop the run. He’ll also likely look at safety early with all four of his regular contributors not under contract.

Bears brass could also provide some more injury information, primarily about left tackle Ozzy Trapilo. He had surgery to repair a patellar tendon injury he suffered in the NFC Wild Card round after the season and Poles might give an update on Trapilo’s recovery.

That will be important and change the trajectory of the Bears’ draft approach. If it seems like a harder recover than expected, the Bears might be open to taking a starting left tackle in the draft instead of a fill-in in free agency.