LAKE FOREST, Ill. – So much pre-NFL draft focus is on whom the Chicago Bears will pick at No. 10 overall. That makes sense, considering college football’s biggest names most everyone knows will be taken that high.

There’s a more wholistic approach, especially with the Bears owning three selections in the top 41 and four in the first 72.

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“They’re very valuable to us,” Bears general manager Ryan Poles said Tuesday in his pre-draft press conference. “I think we can do some really good things to add to our football team and bring good players in.”

There’s a belief at Halas Hall that the Bears can land a group of true impact players, considering this draft’s depth often matches what they need. They should be looked at as a collective, despite the fact the Bears will employ the old best-player-available strategy, as long as it’s not a quarterback or a punter.

The team’s evaluation of this draft class will be important to their order of operations. They’ll decide where value can be maximized while still hitting all of their notes.

“It plays a lot into it just in terms of trying to anticipate where some of the drop-off’s going to be, depending upon what positions we may have higher versus other positions, or at the same position,” assistant GM Ian Cunningham said Tuesday. “Maybe there’s a larger drop-off (at another spot). It just depends where we (are) at 10 or 39 or 41.”

Defensive line, offensive tackle, running back and maybe tight end are the obvious needs. Don’t sleep on a safety or a linebacker, either, with Poles and Cunningham thinking about needs in the short- and long-term.

The team obviously is comfortable with Caleb Williams and his reserves, so quarterback isn’t on the menu, and the Bears hope for a run on the position before they select at No. 10. Several QB-needy teams sit at the top of the draft order, but it’s unclear if anyone besides Cam Ward will be taken. We could see three QBs go, too, with that position held at such a premium.

When a QB goes, another top player continues to drop. The Bears definitely want that.

“You’d like as many quarterbacks to go in front of us as possible, just because that’s not a position we’re definitely — we’re not going to take a quarterback this year,” Cunningham said. “But we’ll see.”

The Bears also have two picks in three second-round draft slots, with selections sandwiching a New Orleans Saints pick. Cunningham said Bears pro scouts have worked to identify possible New Orleans needs, but that’s a bit of a crapshoot. Ideally, the Bears will land both players they want without the Saints picking one.

There’s also the prospect of a trade, using those selections as assets to move up or down the board. Poles isn’t afraid of a deal, and he has made an in-draft trade each time through this process.

He likely will do so again, especially after hearing him say things like this: “This is a large pool of very good football players. And then I think you can do some different things to get more players who are going to be able to come in and help your team more quickly.”