Ryan Poles Presser

[HisRoyalSweetness]

I'm a bit surprised nobody's posted this already, but for those who haven't seen it here's Ryan Poles' 17 minute presser at the NFL owners meeting. Ignore the video title; he covers a lot of other ground. It's worth a watch.

[Grizzled]

Poles said his son has Fields' jersey. I have to put some blame on Poles, he says the team didn't build around Fields in Poles' first year, he had to clean up the salary cap, players not wanted any longer, etc. but he made no efforts to bring in WRs and OL in the draft except a rookie OT in the 5th round. Dissembling.

[dplank]

Poles said his son has Fields' jersey. I have to put some blame on Poles, he says the team didn't build around Fields in Poles' first year, he had to clean up the salary cap, players not wanted any longer, etc. but he made no efforts to bring in WRs and OL in the draft except a rookie OT in the 5th round. Dissembling.

Yea, it is what it is. If we had known what we were going to ultimately do with him we’d never have drafted him. We should have fired Nagy / Pace a year earlier - I was begging for that. But Bears, we wait and then Mis-timed the QB window with a lame duck season followed by a coaching change/new offense and a complete roster tear down. No one in their right mind would have a rookie QB in that circumstance to develop, but that’s not Poles fault. Ultimately it’s George’s fault.

[Ditka’s dictaphone]

Obviously I was a “Fields believer” but credit to Poles, the way he has “De-Beared” this teams recruitment strategy has been very impressive.

Salary cap - sorted
Draft capital - sorted
QB clock - reset
Age of team - drastically reduced.

Those had to be his main aims and he’s done a great job turning them around

[Moriarty]

We should have fired Nagy / Pace a year earlier - I was begging for that. But Bears, we wait and then Mis-timed the QB window with a lame duck season followed by a coaching change/new offense and a complete roster tear down. No one in their right mind would have a rookie QB in that circumstance to develop, but that’s not Poles fault. Ultimately it’s George’s fault.

Same & Amen

Timing and Windows are crucial and the Bears have historically been awful at managing them because of incompetence at the top - I've been on that theme for decades now.

[crueltyabc]

He was careful not to mention coaching but he fired Getsy, Tolbert, and Jonoko for a reason. I don't buy that it was just red meat for the pro-Justin contingent. Poles made a mistake thinking that trio could maximize the 2023 roster. I think he's owning that, which is nice. I'd like to see Flus take some responsibility for his part in hiring and managing those guys.

[Rusty Trombagent]

[RichH55]

Obviously I was a “Fields believer” but credit to Poles, the way he has “De-Beared” this teams recruitment strategy has been very impressive.

Salary cap - sorted
Draft capital - sorted
QB clock - reset
Age of team - drastically reduced.

Those had to be his main aims and he’s done a great job turning them around

Yep - and you don't even really need to start making hard decisions until 2026 either.

[Z Bear]

Poles is on the McAfee show today, he comes in about 10 minutes into the show.

[Arkansasbear]

We should have fired Nagy / Pace a year earlier - I was begging for that. But Bears, we wait and then Mis-timed the QB window with a lame duck season followed by a coaching change/new offense and a complete roster tear down. No one in their right mind would have a rookie QB in that circumstance to develop, but that’s not Poles fault. Ultimately it’s George’s fault.

Same & Amen

Timing and Windows are crucial and the Bears have historically been awful at managing them because of incompetence at the top - I've been on that theme for decades now.

The other thing that has always worked against us is that we make a move a QB a year too late or too early. Either the QB class the year before we make a move was much stronger or the year after we make a move is much stronger. Had the potential for that to happen again if we had moved on a QB last year.

I'm not knocking Stroud, he had a great year and I liked him a ton more than Young, but I think if he was in this draft class he might be 3rd or 4th on the list. CW is clearly better and the more I watch Daniels I'm thinking he should be #2. I also think I place Maye before him. But Maye is more of the old school 6'4" QB who works from the pocket. Seems like those guys are being devalued today, so maybe the NFL would put Stroud before him.

[IotaNet]

I'm not knocking Stroud, he had a great year and I liked him a ton more than Young, but I think if he was in this draft class he might be 3rd or 4th on the list. CW is clearly better and the more I watch Daniels I'm thinking he should be #2. I also think I place Maye before him. But Maye is more of the old school 6'4" QB who works from the pocket. Seems like those guys are being devalued today, so maybe the NFL would put Stroud before him.

Not sure I agree with this. Stroud was always a stud -- hyper accurate and could always make every throw.

Also, don't sleep on the "old school" type of quarterback. Just because "mobile" guys are all the rage (and BTW, Maye is more mobile than he gets credit for), there will always be room in the NFL 6'4" QB who is smart, savvy, and can make every throw.

[Arkansasbear]

I'm not knocking Stroud, he had a great year and I liked him a ton more than Young, but I think if he was in this draft class he might be 3rd or 4th on the list. CW is clearly better and the more I watch Daniels I'm thinking he should be #2. I also think I place Maye before him. But Maye is more of the old school 6'4" QB who works from the pocket. Seems like those guys are being devalued today, so maybe the NFL would put Stroud before him.

Not sure I agree with this. Stroud was always a stud -- hyper accurate and could always make every throw.

Also, don't sleep on the "old school" type of quarterback. Just because "mobile" guys are all the rage (and BTW, Maye is more mobile than he gets credit for), there will always be room in the NFL 6'4" QB who is smart, savvy, and can make every throw.

Maye is fairly mobile and extremely mobile for a guy his size, but he's not going to be viewed as a "dual threat guy" like the others. I agree guys like him will always find a home. May not have stated it as clearly when I said "maybe the NFL would put Stroud before him." I was talking about how the teams stacked up in the picking order. It gets down to a team preference - do they want the dual threat option or not. If they think that's important they would move Maye down to 4.

As I said, it wasn't a knock on Stroud, I think he will be a very good, maybe even great NFL QB. But in ranking them all as prospects, I think CW is head and shoulders above them all. I think Daniels nudges out Stroud by a bit. Maye and Stroud are a "pick 'em" depending on what a team wants in their QB.

Hope that explains it better. If you think Stroud is a better prospect than Daniels, that's a fair take. I think they are close. I like they are both big (6'4" 210+). Daniels play style does worry me as he takes some CRAZY hits. That was always my worry with Watson (more so because he had the injuries to go along with it).

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Poles was clearly emotional when talking about Fields. He obviously liked him but his job is to put the team first. Even so he did his best to trade Fields to a team where he has a chance to continue his career as a starter, if not immediately then eventually, as opposed to languishing as a backup behind a guy who's already signed a big money deal.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Poles is on the McAfee show today, he comes in about 10 minutes into the show.

Here's the link. As Z Bear says, Poles comes on about 10 minutes in and is there for about 15 minutes.



He was also on with Rich Eisen. Here's a 3 minute clip:

[alexwilkins]

Here’s a bit of Poles on The Pat McAfee Show.

[Otis Day]

I like how he is not afraid to put himself out there, the anti-Pace if you will.

[Heinz D.]

Yea, it is what it is. If we had known what we were going to ultimately do with him we’d never have drafted him. We should have fired Nagy / Pace a year earlier - I was begging for that. But Bears, we wait and then Mis-timed the QB window with a lame duck season followed by a coaching change/new offense and a complete roster tear down. No one in their right mind would have a rookie QB in that circumstance to develop, but that’s not Poles fault. Ultimately it’s George’s fault.

George deserves most of the blame, for sure. I'm with you that Nagy and Pace were fired a year too late. Not having a real Plan B even after Trubisky started breaking down should have put them on the shortest leash imaginable, but it didn't.

Some of the blame does go to Poles and Flus, though. Like most of US, they saw something special in Justin Fields, and figured he was smart enough to polish his game WHILE being a starter. We were all wrong. Nagy should have set Fields for his entire rookie year, which is something most of us, (including me) didn't want. We now know what's holding Fields back--Ohio State messed him up. Not the coaching, or anything, but the team was always SO talented, that Justin felt he had absolutely no reason to fine tune his game. That's entirely on Justin, but there's a chunk of that that's also called "being a kid"...

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Here's the McAfee segment in full for those who don't want to wade through the full show above to find it:

[HisRoyalSweetness]

I probably should have title this thread "Bears Pressers". Here's the one from Kevin Warren. It's 40 minutes long and a lot of it covers the new stadium but he does talk about other issues too, particularly towards the end.

(I've also posted a 5 minute excerpt in the Bears New Stadium Nonsense Repository thread: viewtopic.php?p=378726#p378726.)

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Poles talked with Jeff Joniak for about 13 minutes on the Bears podcast. He covers some of the same ground as with his presser but it's worth listening to because he does also talk more about his signings during free agency, agrees that free agency is now on pause, and at the end he is asked about the kick off rule change and the roster implications.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

And a 10 minute presser from Eberflus:

[LacertineForest]

HRS out here doing the Lord's work. Thanks for posting all of these in one place!

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Here's the full RIch Eisen interview with Poles:



Top 30 visits start next week and will include QBs other than Caleb Williams.

Like George McCaskey, Poles would rather avoid being on Hard Knocks.

[Bearfacts]

Yea, it is what it is. If we had known what we were going to ultimately do with him we’d never have drafted him. We should have fired Nagy / Pace a year earlier - I was begging for that. But Bears, we wait and then Mis-timed the QB window with a lame duck season followed by a coaching change/new offense and a complete roster tear down. No one in their right mind would have a rookie QB in that circumstance to develop, but that’s not Poles fault. Ultimately it’s George’s fault.

George deserves most of the blame, for sure. I'm with you that Nagy and Pace were fired a year too late. Not having a real Plan B even after Trubisky started breaking down should have put them on the shortest leash imaginable, but it didn't.

Some of the blame does go to Poles and Flus, though. Like most of US, they saw something special in Justin Fields, and figured he was smart enough to polish his game WHILE being a starter. We were all wrong. Nagy should have set Fields for his entire rookie year, which is something most of us, (including me) didn't want. We now know what's holding Fields back--Ohio State messed him up. Not the coaching, or anything, but the team was always SO talented, that Justin felt he had absolutely no reason to fine tune his game. That's entirely on Justin, but there's a chunk of that that's also called "being a kid"...

I'd agree with much of this but from both not all. Starting from the top I'll lay a lot of blame on McCaskey/Phillips management too. Neither were football guys although I think they liked to believe they were. Teddy Bears was a life long "bean counter" and GMcC never had enough Halas blood in him to ever be more than an owner who should have done no more than that and found a guy like Kevin Warren to run the top level long ago. While GMcC may be more NFL savvy than Mikey was that was a very low bar to clear.

Practically speaking Nagy was a lame duck when JF arrived and Pace was in a hotter seat than even he knew. He'd already been in charge of mishandling Trubisky and now their plan for JF seemed destined to fail as well. Nagy had to win to keep his job and it's pretty obvious that developing JF was the last thing on his mind. Desperate HC make poor decisions. Pace might've saved his job if prior to drafting JF he hadn't done the same thing he did with Mitch and do it while keeping the coaching staff intact.

Poles and Flus come in and Poles needs to gut the team around JF in order to create adequate picks and draft capital from which to rebuild. Pretty tough to develop a young QB with a supporting cast like he had just as Carolina learned this past year. It wasn't that JF didn't have what he had at OSU and that messed him up. It was that he had jack shit and on top of that a scheme that didn't fit him without the proper coaching to even do it well. Year two under Getsy with better support he improved but not nearly enough.

For all intents 2023 was almost like his rookie year. He finally had at least one #1 type WR and a decent TE but still had a young, inexperienced, and oft injured OL. He did the best he could and had Poles not managed to once again luck into a #1 overall pick it's more likely we would have kept building around him and drafted a different QB to sit and compete with Bagent. But Poles did have the top pick again in a draft where the QB talent was there and a shot at resetting the cap clock again and keep rebuilding.

Flus got to stay but with a deal not all that dissimilar from the Ditka era but in reverse. It's Flus defense to run as he likes it but at least for now that offense belong to Waldron first and foremost like the 80s Bears defenses belonged to Buddy Ryan. If we were gonna draft another QB this was the only way to get the past mistakes righted and do what had never been done before. Set the table completely with coaching and player talent before bringing in another rookie QB and expect him to operate it and win.

This is what GMcC/Phillips never realized. JA may have tried to before he drafted Grossman but Rex ended up being a JAG QB. Cutler could've been the guy but with what it took to get him JA had nothing much left to build around him with nor the proper coaching and eventually the defense declined beyond the point where it could no longer carry the team like it did in 2005-06. A better choice of GM would've either kept Lovie and insisted he hire a top OC or hired Bruce Arians. But Emery phuc'd all of that up too.

Even this falls on GMcC/Phillips for hiring the most inept GM we've ever had because he was once a Bears scout or personnel guy? WFT? So IMHO over the past two decades we have had two QBs whom we could've won far more games with but we never prepared a team for them first to do it with. This is where I agree 100% with dplank and you Heinz. All of this was the result of phuc'd up McCaskey/Phillips management and not having a proper understanding of how great teams are built long term to win.

Halas once knew how to do it but when the game had passed him by Mugs convinced him to hire Jim Finks. For the most part the '85 Bears were the result of that with some latter day help from Jerry Vainisi who might have continued to keep a longer term winner intact had Mikey not fired him because he was too cheap to pay a good GM or his top players and refused to spend money on better QBs when Mac was injured as often as he was. So we were cursed by McCaskey bullshit for 40 years. Thank God it's over, I hope.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

This is worth 13 minutes of your time:



It isn't just Ryan Poles talking but includes comments from the newly acquired players and shows their arrivals at Halas Hall.

The director seems to have a strange obsession with close ups of hands. Perhaps he's prepping for shots of Caleb Williams and his painted nails.

[Bearfacts]

There's a noticeable difference in the "feel" of how this team is being run now. While the media always seem to focus on who the top guys are, where they sign, and how much $$$ they got in Chicago it's much different. Poles sees his needs very clearly and can find core type players to fill them. Edwards, Billings, and Davis were examples from 2023. Byard, Bates, Everett, and Swift are guys this year. And he's managed his cap well enough to add the top level guys like Edmunds, Sweat, Moore, and Allen while still being able to keep his best young players. It finally feels like a team being run by people who know football and how to win.

[Bears Whiskey Nut]

This is worth 13 minutes of your time:



It isn't just Ryan Poles talking but includes comments from the newly acquired players and shows their arrivals at Halas Hall.

The director seems to have a strange obsession with close ups of hands. Perhaps he's prepping for shots of Caleb Williams and his painted nails.

Great video HRS, thanks! I really hope that Bates is allowed to compete for a spot on the OL. I also didn't know Swift was only 25. I thought he had been in the league longer than that. We only have two TE's on the roster, and it seems that the draft is pretty solid at that position. I wouldn't be surprised to see us spend a pick on one, especially if we trade down from 9 and grab a few more picks.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

[wulfy]

Poles is interesting .... little easter eggs he drops like "there will be indicators in the draft that will tell us where we need to move to acquire the top talents in the draft"

That isn't the same as "move to acquire more draft capital" or "get more swings" .... I don't know, could me nothing or could be something.

And having few picks bothers the media much more than it bothers Ian/Ryan.

[HisRoyalSweetness]

Ian Cunningham's "Oscar" speech at the beginning was so long I kept waiting for his microphone to cut out and music to start playing!