Winning the Super Bowl is the endgame for every NFL general manager. Ryan Poles is no different. The Chicago Bears GM is determined to finally get his team into the conversation. However, lots of work is needed to clear the final hurdle. He believes the first big step was taken when the Bears hired Ben Johnson as the new head coach. He should be an instant asset for quarterback Caleb Williams. The next was upgrading Chicago’s presence along the line of scrimmage. Three new offensive linemen were acquired at center and both guard spots. Then he secured defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo and defensive tackle Grady Jarrett to help the defensive line.
By the sound of things, Poles isn’t done with the latter. At his recent press conference, he made some interesting comments about focusing on improving the team’s pass rush. He admitted that watching the Philadelphia Eagles’ dominant Super Bowl win against Kansas City sparked his renewed urgency. They sacked Patrick Mahomes six times, a glaring reminder that winning teams often are able to get after the quarterback. Poles sounds like he is deadset on reaching a similar point.
Ryan Poles might be looking to double down in the draft.
Chicago holds the 10th overall pick in the 1st round next month, a premium spot to land a potential pass rusher. Some excellent players have gone in that vicinity over the past few years.
- Jalen Carter (9th, 2023)
- Micah Parsons (12th, 2022)
- Rashan Gary (12th, 2019)
- Da’Ron Payne (13th, 2018)
- Haason Reddick (13th, 2017)
Ryan Poles could have some prominent names on the board once he goes on the clock. Michigan defensive tackle Mason Graham, Mississippi defensive tackle Walter Nolen, Georgia defensive end Mykel Williams, Marshall defensive end Mike Green, and Boston College edge rusher Donovan Ezeiruaku all feel like possibilities. Are any of them worth the 10th pick? That depends on who you ask. Most experts seem to think there isn’t much difference in talent between the 10th pick and the 50th pick. That means Poles could probably take whoever defensive coordinator Dennis Allen wants without concerns of “overdrafting.”
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It would certainly set the Bears up for the short and long term. Odeyingbo, Jarrett, and Montez Sweat could handle the heavy lifting while their 1st round pick, and hopefully, Austin Booker can develop as rotational options. That is how you build potential waves of pass rushers.
@Sallie
You can call this the first year of Ryan Pole’s head coaching pick. I suspect that for the entire organization, they should be looking at the position coaches performance under a magnifying glass, after the debacle of Matt Eberflus’ oblivious “dum, dee, dum, dum, dum.”
Again. Coaching. The REASON most of those players fell to the positions they were drafted, was simply because those defensive line players cannot and will not be on the field for 100% of defensive snaps. The Eagles built a ROTATION of defensive line players. And that takes coaching. Yes. Drafting is important. Natural talent is important. But if you want to study this concept further, when the LA Rams lost Aaron Donald to retirement, everyone thought the Rams defense would become a major weakness. But when you look at how they imagined the defensive line, they drafted in the lower… Read more »
Trading down from 1.10 might not be so easy unless somebody slips. In which case, use the pick. The door’s open for Jeanty with the OL improvement.
Warren or Booker are good choices. Booker would be quality OL depth and Thuney has a one year contract.
It’s LT that’s the issue if Jones isn’t healthy. And it doesn’t appear any merit a 1.10 in ’25.
Poles’ plan? For what? My HC BEN has a plan to fix Poles’ three 3 3 3 years of ineptitude and patchwork roster as we now see in year four 4 4 4 4 of the rebuild. But now that he rather than Poles is in charge, we can now call it Year One 1.
Dr Melhaus, Many are suggesting that Ashton Jeanty will be the pick @ 10. If he’s there.. although thought as the Raiders are gonna take him at 6, and I can see that. I have suggested trading down from 10 to increase their draft pick pile – that is something that Poles often does and I could see him doing this here. I like that, because it gives them more pics and more chances to increase overall team depth. Yeah, I guess it depends on what Johnson wants. I wouldn’t be surprised if they take Tyler Warren to put some… Read more »