Ryan Poles has drafted nine players from the Senior Bowl over his first three seasons in charge of the Chicago Bears. He values the event as a way to identify quality talent, which is what led him to Darnell Wright and Tyrique Stevenson. It is reasonable to assume he’ll dip into that pool again for the 2025 draft. Beat writer Nicholas Moreano was down in Mobile, Alabama, for the event. After failing to spot the Bears GM on the first day, he popped up on the second. It didn’t take long to determine what Poles’ objective was.
Moreano noticed he and assistant GM Ian Cunningham spent almost all of their time watching the same drill over and over—the one-on-one matchups between the offensive and defensive linemen. The only deviation was when Poles slipped away to watch the running backs. That should pretty much tell you where the team’s priorities lay ahead of spring.
Ryan Poles doesn’t need a detailed plan of attack.
Anybody with common sense can see where the Bears need help. They were painfully weak at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Offensively, they allowed 67 sacks on Caleb Williams while only ranking 25th in rushing. On defense, they were 28th against the run and got only 29 sacks from the defensive line. It is hard to win in the NFL when you can’t control the trenches. There is a reason teams like Philadelphia and Detroit dominated the NFC the past two seasons.
No doubt Ryan Poles knows he must attack this off-season with every resource available to fix both issues. He will have ample opportunities in both free agency and the draft. As to the running back diversion, new head coach Ben Johnson is a big proponent of the ground game. He didn’t seem to care much for D’Andre Swift when they worked together in Detroit. That makes almost a guarantee the Bears will seek help in the draft. It is a strong class this year. Poles has to make sure he knows which ones to target.
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Sorry to tell you gena but Poles will be making the picks. And the fact that he’s still the GM and all your whining won’t matter. You will never be a GM or even a scout for a high school flag football team. Probably a plumber with your head in a toilet all day. Gena always talks about players after the fact. Mr.Hindsite. But we don’t hear about Bryce Young that you wanted Poles to select. Hummm. We keep hearing about the 7 UDFs on the line but it’s BS. Name the 7 gena. You can’t because they don’t exist.
You’re also not paying attention if you didn’t know that Caleb avoided 50 more sacks. Next highest was Lamar at 28. The Rookie QB did struggle in a system he never should have been asked to play in. There is no denying that. But the biggest issue was the scheme and the line not the line and that QB. Daniels’ success stems largely from Dan Quinn knowing that he needed to get him someone with familiarity of what he likes to do in his rookie season.
If you think at least half of those 67 sacks weren’t the fault of Caleb and the offensive scheme you aren’t paying attention. No O-line can hold blocks for that long. For that matter probably at least half of the holding calls are on those two things as well. The Chiefs made it to the SB with two fairly bad tackles. If you watched any Chiefs games early and mid- season you would have saw how frustrated Mahomes was. Andy schemed to get the ball out quicker and Mahomes decided to run more. You need to take pressure off your… Read more »
This isn’t surprising as it relates to what areas of the team are most in need, it is surprising that Coach Johnson is not present. I really don’t trust Ryan Poles making decisions on players, I’d feel better about it if the Coach was there and was involved in this evaluation. With that said, I wouldn’t be surprised if we took Ashton Jeanty from Boise State, this guy seems to be a difference maker, I’d honestly prefer a starting Center and Gaurd to be obtained in Free Agency, I think O-Lineman that are rookies tend to struggle, we need experienced… Read more »
I hope, if he’s watching one on one line drills, that he is watching 7 positions, not one.