People have tried to figure out why Ryan Poles has failed to build the Chicago Bears offensive line so spectacularly over the past three years. It was supposed to be his area of expertise. He played offensive line in college, so one would think he’d have a good eye for talent in that area. Yet he just watched a unit he built surrender 67 sacks and block for the 28th-ranked rushing attack in the NFL. That is about as bad as it gets. It is easy to understand why many fans don’t trust him to fix things going into this off-season.
The truth is there isn’t much nuance to Poles’ failures. Much of it stems from his stubborn refusal to stick with programs with proven track records for producing good offensive linemen. Here is a list of schools that have produced a Pro Bowl offensive lineman in the draft since 2020.
- Iowa (2)
- Ohio State
- Wisconsin
- Oregon
- Alabama
- Oklahoma
- Northwestern
- Tennessee
- Tulsa
- Nebraska
Here are the schools of every offensive lineman Poles has drafted since he took over in 2022.
- Southern Utah
- San Diego State
- Illinois
- Southern
- Tennessee
- Yale
It probably isn’t a coincidence that Darnell Wright, by far the best pick from that group, came from the most proven school (Tennessee).
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Ryan Poles must stop trying to be the smartest guy in the room.
It feels like he’s leaning way too much into his own background, trying to find that diamond in the rough others fail to spot. He was an undrafted rookie out of Boston College and may still feel he never got a proper shot. That is not how to operate when running a draft room, especially with such a vital part of the roster. The most successful era of Bears offensive line play was the 1980s, and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see why. That great unit comprised guys from USC, Iowa, Pitt, and Notre Dame.
Not a small school guy to be found.
Every sign points to the Bears being aggressive at rebuilding the offensive line this spring. That includes free agency and the draft. Ryan Poles has four picks in the top three rounds this year. He has only spent two in that range on linemen to this point, and one of them was injured and came from Yale. The mining for gold needs to stop. Stick to the programs that have done this before. Alabama, Ohio State, and LSU have some excellent prospects in this class. Don’t overthink it.
I agree with the general point about the schools. Lots of Big Ten/Big Midwestern colleges feature bigger corn-fed boys that can make great interior linemen. There is no reason to fight that trend. OT’s are slightly different cuz because you need more athleticism. Lots of good OT’s can be found from the SEC type schools. There is some overlap when it comes to D-line here too. Places like Ohio State, Michigan, and Notre Dame really get their pick of 5 star recruits and then they all take pride in having a powerful O-Line, not just with players but coaching too.… Read more »
Dr. Mel, As always, I appreciate your posts, and the conversation.
The NFL draft has become an entire sport unto itself. My premise is the entire draft board and rankings are skewed, and I tend to lean more toward importance by position. Most of the time, the best athletes tend to play WR, but that does not automatically make them the best football players, or the most vital to their team’s success. Just my take, as I don’t value the WR as much as others.
The article makes some valid points. That said, a team doesn’t draft linemen from a school, they draft individual players. No one can solve their OL woes just by taking two OL from Iowa. Poles may be a bit of a victim of his success in finding Braxton Jones. Word is that the Bears had him rated as a 3rd round talent, and when he fell to the 5th round, they finally snapped him up (after a trade down). I think he’s certainly played at the level of a 3rd round LT – not perfect, has a few flaws, but… Read more »
@jmscooby After seeing his performance this year, it’s hard to argue Bowers wouldn’t make just about any team better, but in reality, I’m also guessing he would have had half the production or less on the Bears given their total inability to even think about throwing to their TE, because it’s not like Kmet wasn’t runnning around in most passing plays pretty much wide open, but doing nothing but getting his cardio in. I’d also question why Denver would have traded up. Ryan Pace would have like when he moved up one spot to take Mitch, but Denver’s a bit… Read more »
I feel like this has been discussed ad nauseum in this comment section. The problem with Poles and o-linemen is that he sees his failure to stick in the league as a fluke. A mere lack of being given the appropriate opportunity or sufficient amount of time to develop. Until he comes to terms with the fact that he just wasn’t physically gifted enough or naturally talented enough he will never reliably pick good linemen. The football world is full of guys who were smarter, better prepared, harder working and just plain better at football than guys who got roster… Read more »