A word about Ryan Poles

[dave99]

'Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity'
~Seneca

The Sun Times has good article entitled:
Bears GM Ryan Poles delivers the roster he promised: Talent-rich, deep and sustainable
https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2024 ... ustainable

For me, it is nothing short of remarkable that after four decades of mismanagement, ownership managed to find an executive of Poles caliber.
Credit to Poles for walking into the interview for what must be his dream job and having the testicular fortitude to speak the plain, unvarnished and ugly truth along with his well thought out plan for a painful but bright turnaround.
Credit also to George for listening and understanding that this man was his best and perhaps only hope. Apparently he had finally grown tired of hearing fables of wizards and unicorns and opted for reality.

Poles has made some mistakes, and a couple were real doozies, but he has a plan and a vision and the iron discipline to hold to it, even when the mob is howling or some bright shiny distraction is just within reach.
Certainly things have worked out well, but no better than Seneca would have predicted.

[Shadow]

Poles was a great choice.
He was also smart to bring in Ian Cunningham with him. Ian deserves some of the credit as well as Ryan. imo
They are a great duo and I hope Ian stays right here working as the counterpart to Ryan.

[Grizzled]

The winds of hope are blowing like when Jim Finks ran the show. Of course, that was 40+ years ago so it's really time for the Bears to get it together.

[otis]

Was this poles first interview for a gm job?

[thunderspirit]

I like Ryan Poles and appreciate the work he's done. I'm not convinced he's the second coming of Ozzie Newsome, mind you; he's had some significant missteps (which, to his credit, he doesn't cling to out of stubbornness), and I'm willing to bet that Ian Cunningham has been a very good regulator on Poles' tendency to act rather than wait for things to develop — how much that bites him when Cunningham promotes to his own team remains to be seen.

But I will say that, if you're not making any mistakes, you're probably being too cautious. Poles' biggest errors (Larry Ogunjobi, Chase Claypool, at this point Nate Davis) have not, to date, been ones he can't get out of.

[Z Bear]

How is Ogunjobi a misstep? Dude failed a physical and the conract was voided, that cost us nothing at all in the end.

[wab]

Yeah, I can agree on Claypool for sure, but Ogunjobi was just one of those things that would/could have happened to any team.

I'm not necessarily calling Davis a mistake in the same vein as Claypool...just more of a free agency cautionary tale.

[IotaNet]

I like Ryan Poles and appreciate the work he's done. I'm not convinced he's the second coming of Ozzie Newsome, mind you; he's had some significant missteps …

With all due respect to Ozzie, he was in that job for 24 years. I’m sure he had some ugly misses along the way — especially in his first few years.

I actually DO see Poles as the second coming of Ozzie. Dude is only 38 years old and in his short tenure, he has brought respectability back to the Bears FO. They are no longer looked upon as a joke around the league and that is squarely on Poles and how he has handled his business.

I can’t wait to see him in 5-10 years. He will only get better and that bodes well for The Beloved.

[G08]

Poles was a great choice.
He was also smart to bring in Ian Cunningham with him. Ian deserves some of the credit as well as Ryan. imo
They are a great duo and I hope Ian stays right here working as the counterpart to Ryan.

I hope he does too but if/when we take off he's a goner.

[Bearfacts]

Poles was a great choice.
He was also smart to bring in Ian Cunningham with him. Ian deserves some of the credit as well as Ryan. imo
They are a great duo and I hope Ian stays right here working as the counterpart to Ryan.

Be nice but even if we paid him like a GM if he gets his shot at running his own team he won't turn it down unless it's the pits.

[Bearfacts]

How is Ogunjobi a misstep? Dude failed a physical and the conract was voided, that cost us nothing at all in the end.

Yup. It would've been a mistake if Poles had signed him prior to his passing our physical. He's still playing but not producing anywhere near what we would've expected. Justin Jones was much cheaper and more productive.

[thunderspirit]

It's just my opinion, but Ogunjobi was a mistake because his production in the subsequent seasons didn't justify the offered contract (not unlike "who could the Bears have drafted instead of x player" debates). That the knee injury ended up voiding the contract was fortunate for the Bears doesn't make it less an error. Pivoting to Justin Jones was indeed a good move, but one necessitated by the Ogunjobi deal voiding.

I do think there have been morre good moves than bad (with the caveat that his picks in the 3rd round of the draft have been unimpressive thus far).

[Rusty Trombagent]

It's just my opinion, but Ogunjobi was a mistake because his production in the subsequent seasons didn't justify the offered contract (not unlike "who could the Bears have drafted instead of x player" debates). That the knee injury ended up voiding the contract was fortunate for the Bears doesn't make it less an error. Pivoting to Justin Jones was indeed a good move, but one necessitated by the Ogunjobi deal voiding.

Maybe there's a direct link between the *foot injury that voided his contract and the subsequent lack of production?

[Moriarty]

We also missed other FA targets the money would have gone to instead, while it was tied up in Ogunjobi.
(This has been discussed and verified previously.)


I don't consider it a major black mark against him, but a bit of a question mark or yellow flag.

[dplank]

He’s had a few fails (Ogun, Claypool, etc) but no one is infallible and his overall body of work has been absolutely stellar IMO

[Bears Whiskey Nut]

But I will say that, if you're not making any mistakes, you're probably being too cautious.

This is exactly it. Right here. If you're not making ANY mistakes, you're not trying hard enough. But to another posters point, when he does make a mistake, he doesn't hang on to try and be right. Cut bait...move on.

We got ourselves a good one...

[HisRoyalSweetness]

He’s had a few fails (Ogun, Claypool, etc) but no one is infallible and his overall body of work has been absolutely stellar IMO

Not to mention he's been incredibly lucky having back-to-back #1 overall picks. I shudder to think what the Bears roster might look like today if that hadn't happened.

They say it's better to be lucky than good. When you're both you get the present Bears team and all the excitement that goes with it. Only 10 days to go...

[thunderspirit]

He’s had a few fails (Ogun, Claypool, etc) but no one is infallible and his overall body of work has been absolutely stellar IMO

I won't go so far as "stellar" but I will definitely give it a "very good".

[Atkins&Rebel]

It's hard to completely evaluate Poles because we don't have enough information. While he gets credit and blame for every decision, we don't know who did the evaluation of each decision. Sometimes a GM has to make a decision with the info he is given. If a scout or Cunningham thumps the table for a player in Free Agency or the draft, it still falls to Poles for credit and blame.

What I'm impressed with over his "miscues" is that he acknowledged them and moved on.

Regarding his "luck" in the draft: He definitely took advantage of his situation. All GM's have a 1/31 chance of being in the right place at the right time on any deal, and Pace was there with the Panthers. But Stroud was also highly rated, and has a hefty advantage over Young as the better QB. Who's to say that Houston doesn't take Stroud and left us trading with the Panthers for Young anyway?

And finally, I don't have the time or energy to look at all the moves all the GMs do across the league, but I'm willing to guess that Poles is batting as good or higher than many of his peers since he took over. We are trending up. I'm happy where we're at with Poles

[thunderspirit]

He’s had a few fails (Ogun, Claypool, etc) but no one is infallible and his overall body of work has been absolutely stellar IMO

Not to mention he's been incredibly lucky having back-to-back #1 overall picks. I shudder to think what the Bears roster might look like today if that hadn't happened.

They say it's better to be lucky than good. When you're both you get the present Bears team and all the excitement that goes with it. Only 10 days to go...

That Bryce Young trade hit it out of the park, and Poles deserves his kudos for that move alone.

[HurricaneBear]

Not to mention he's been incredibly lucky having back-to-back #1 overall picks. I shudder to think what the Bears roster might look like today if that hadn't happened.

They say it's better to be lucky than good. When you're both you get the present Bears team and all the excitement that goes with it. Only 10 days to go...

That Bryce Young trade hit it out of the park, and Poles deserves his kudos for that move alone.

It will go down as the greatest trade in NFL history after the Caleb dynasty is over 25 years from now.

[HurricaneBear]

He’s had a few fails (Ogun, Claypool, etc) but no one is infallible and his overall body of work has been absolutely stellar IMO

Imo, his fails arent even that bad. Claypool was a miss, but understandable. We needed WRs and Claypool wasn't proven to suck yet. Losing pick 32 was just bad luck, when he made the trade the team was better than that.

Ogun, again luck on his side allowing him to back out. Backing out isn't a sure thing for a GM. Pace wouldn't have.

So while he's had his misses, as you said all GMs will, his always seem to be justified to some degree or luck lessens the blow.

Quiet a contrast to Pace and say, the Danny Trevathan contract he didn't have to make with like 75 void years on the end of it. Or the countless others we all remember.

We are very lucky to have Poles.

[spudbear]

He’s had a few fails (Ogun, Claypool, etc) but no one is infallible and his overall body of work has been absolutely stellar IMO

Imo, his fails arent even that bad. Claypool was a miss, but understandable. We needed WRs and Claypool wasn't proven to suck yet. Losing pick 32 was just bad luck, when he made the trade the team was better than that.

Ogun, again luck on his side allowing him to back out. Backing out isn't a sure thing for a GM. Pace wouldn't have.

So while he's had his misses, as you said all GMs will, his always seem to be justified to some degree or luck lessens the blow.

Quiet a contrast to Pace and say, the Danny Trevathan contract he didn't have to make with like 75 void years on the end of it. Or the countless others we all remember.

We are very lucky to have Poles.

Agreed.
With Davis it was having a bunch of FA money for someone on the OL and Davis happened to be the "best" choice. I don't remember off the top of my head if anyone else was available, but Davis was experienced and seemed to be injury free.

Teams usually do not let go of good players unless they get too expensive. With Claypool and Davis they were physically up to the challenge of the NFL but mentally do not seem to be good enough. GM's can evaluate physical talent but can make an occasional miss on the mental side.

[malk]

I was pretty meh on Poles after his first year, iirc I wanted a harder tank, e.g. moving Quinn and the 1 and 2 year deals aren't ever really to my liking for a rebuilding side. Of the actual signings, Patrick and Pringle had injuries which derailed them, Morrow and St. Brown were good for the cost, Jones was great and Muhammad was awful. Oh, Riley Reiff ended up being a headscratcher as well.

In 2023 Davis hasn't been great but isn't a total bust. Walker and Edwards are very nice, Edmunds I personally hate the contract for an off ball backer but he's not a terrible player. Billings is great (and to give Poles his flowers, he then resigned him for only $4.25 APY so one year was fine), Ngakoue didn't work out but I understand if he though it might sneak us into the playoffs in a make or break year for Fields...

2024 is obviously incomplete but the contract amounts to years look a bit better. We'll see if I end up disliking the Shelton contract length (my suspicion is that a 3 year deal for more APY would have been nice). But overall, the players look like good options.
On extensions DJ Moore and Johnson look like pretty reasonable for top of market deals, chapeau there. Sweat too for that matter though he's got more to prove than the other two.

Trading has had high highs with some lows. Sweat looks great (though it is just half a season so far) and trading our #1 was a masterstroke even if Williams doesn't pan out (jfc, please don't let that happen!). Claypool was a poor trade and, even though I think I was optimistic at the time, using a 2nd rounder on a guy that, at best, would need a big extension doesn't seem awesome. With Sweat the risk was that he wouldn't be worth the value of the extended contract whereas with Claypool he needed to prove he was even worth the extension as well.

Drafting is a bit early to say but looks pretty solid if unspectacular. Brisker and Gordon are decent starters, I think Jones a pretty good starter but nothing much else yet from 2022. 2023 has promise in Wright, Dexter and Stevenson though none have yet fully consolidated as good starters (which is fine, I just don't personally think they're there quite yet). Johnson and Scott could still do something, Pickens looks poor. 2024 we'll see.

The lack of my personal preference for buy low multi year deals aside (well that and overpaying for an off ball backer...), you can't ask for much more. The missteps haven't been major and the highs are looking pretty great. Ideally we need to see some pro bowl/all pro level players from the draft picks rather than just solid starters but as a foundation from a young GM, very promising.

Oh, and there are the undrafted pickups as well, he absolutely deserves props for Sanborn and Bagent!

[HisRoyalSweetness]

No time to rest on his laurels...

Bears GM Ryan Poles to hit scouting circuit with 3 college football games this weekend
By Jason Lieser

While Bears players have the weekend off before Week 1 preparation begins Monday, general manager Ryan Poles does not.

As has been his custom, he will spend Labor Day weekend scouting big-time college football games. Poles is scheduled to attend No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 14 Clemson in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon, a source said, and fly from there to see No. 7 Notre Dame visit No. 20 Texas A&M that night. His tour ends with No. 13 LSU and No. 23 USC playing in Las Vegas on Sunday.

The Bears hope they aren’t picking near the top of the draft again in 2025, but they have a first-round pick and two second-rounders.

It’s far too early to predict where the Bears will be picking or which players could be on their board, but potential first-rounders in those games include LSU offensive tackles Will Campbell and Emery Jones, Georgia pass rusher Mykel Williams and Texas A&M pass rusher Nic Scourton.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2024 ... is-weekend

[thunderspirit]

No time to rest on his laurels...

Bears GM Ryan Poles to hit scouting circuit with 3 college football games this weekend
By Jason Lieser

While Bears players have the weekend off before Week 1 preparation begins Monday, general manager Ryan Poles does not.

As has been his custom, he will spend Labor Day weekend scouting big-time college football games. Poles is scheduled to attend No. 1 Georgia vs. No. 14 Clemson in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon, a source said, and fly from there to see No. 7 Notre Dame visit No. 20 Texas A&M that night. His tour ends with No. 13 LSU and No. 23 USC playing in Las Vegas on Sunday.

The Bears hope they aren’t picking near the top of the draft again in 2025, but they have a first-round pick and two second-rounders.

It’s far too early to predict where the Bears will be picking or which players could be on their board, but potential first-rounders in those games include LSU offensive tackles Will Campbell and Emery Jones, Georgia pass rusher Mykel Williams and Texas A&M pass rusher Nic Scourton.

https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2024 ... is-weekend

I'd be giddy if they landed Scourton.

[Bearfacts]

He’s had a few fails (Ogun, Claypool, etc) but no one is infallible and his overall body of work has been absolutely stellar IMO

Not to mention he's been incredibly lucky having back-to-back #1 overall picks. I shudder to think what the Bears roster might look like today if that hadn't happened.

They say it's better to be lucky than good. When you're both you get the present Bears team and all the excitement that goes with it. Only 10 days to go...

I'll be content with saying we earned it as fans. When you've scratched off as many draft lottery tickets as we have it's nice to have one that's finally paid off big.

[BreadNCircuses]

I was pretty meh on Poles after his first year, iirc I wanted a harder tank, e.g. moving Quinn and the 1 and 2 year deals aren't ever really to my liking for a rebuilding side. Of the actual signings, Patrick and Pringle had injuries which derailed them, Morrow and St. Brown were good for the cost, Jones was great and Muhammad was awful. Oh, Riley Reiff ended up being a headscratcher as well.

In 2023 Davis hasn't been great but isn't a total bust. Walker and Edwards are very nice, Edmunds I personally hate the contract for an off ball backer but he's not a terrible player. Billings is great (and to give Poles his flowers, he then resigned him for only $4.25 APY so one year was fine), Ngakoue didn't work out but I understand if he though it might sneak us into the playoffs in a make or break year for Fields...

2024 is obviously incomplete but the contract amounts to years look a bit better. We'll see if I end up disliking the Shelton contract length (my suspicion is that a 3 year deal for more APY would have been nice). But overall, the players look like good options.
On extensions DJ Moore and Johnson look like pretty reasonable for top of market deals, chapeau there. Sweat too for that matter though he's got more to prove than the other two.

Trading has had high highs with some lows. Sweat looks great (though it is just half a season so far) and trading our #1 was a masterstroke even if Williams doesn't pan out (jfc, please don't let that happen!). Claypool was a poor trade and, even though I think I was optimistic at the time, using a 2nd rounder on a guy that, at best, would need a big extension doesn't seem awesome. With Sweat the risk was that he wouldn't be worth the value of the extended contract whereas with Claypool he needed to prove he was even worth the extension as well.

Drafting is a bit early to say but looks pretty solid if unspectacular. Brisker and Gordon are decent starters, I think Jones a pretty good starter but nothing much else yet from 2022. 2023 has promise in Wright, Dexter and Stevenson though none have yet fully consolidated as good starters (which is fine, I just don't personally think they're there quite yet). Johnson and Scott could still do something, Pickens looks poor. 2024 we'll see.

The lack of my personal preference for buy low multi year deals aside (well that and overpaying for an off ball backer...), you can't ask for much more. The missteps haven't been major and the highs are looking pretty great. Ideally we need to see some pro bowl/all pro level players from the draft picks rather than just solid starters but as a foundation from a young GM, very promising.

Oh, and there are the undrafted pickups as well, he absolutely deserves props for Sanborn and Bagent!

I'm looking at essentially a brand new team after 3 offseasons (we have what, 6 players remaining from the Pace regime? Two of them specialists), complete overhauls take time, so really I'm content saying phase 1 was successful and now we're on to phase 2 to see if this team that's been built can win.

To me, it was apparent that year 1 was a fairly deliberate tank, and I'll call that successful in that:
- we secured the top pick and rotated out of several big contracts to position the team
- didn't overspend /lock ourselves into bad contracts
- got some building blocks in place considering the limited draft resources available

I've gone on record to argue that there were some intentional losses taken in 23 to jockey for position until it became clear that the DJ Moore trade had successfully hamstrung the Panthers and we'd get a 2nd straight #1 overall pick. There was a lot of "prove it" going on to evaluate different guys and who would get new money. The trade for Claypool obviously didn't pan out, but Poles didn't double down and try to make it work, he saw it wasn't working, didn't get hung up on the sunk cost, and moved on.

Going into year 3, it feels like we're positioned to be a winning team this year, and likely seriously competing for deep playoff runs in the next few years -- but we need to see that on the field. The biggest weaknesses are still both lines, but there's been work done on both. Next year's draft class is looking deep at Edge rusher and barring Nate Davis playing at a much higher level this year, likely a replacement at RG as well. Center we'll have to wait and see, but at least we've taken some swings there and looking to see how it shakes out.

My suspicion is we see Jenkins extended during the bye week, we've got Braxton Jones for 2 more years and his likely replacement on the roster developing.

[RichH55]

He’s had a few fails (Ogun, Claypool, etc) but no one is infallible and his overall body of work has been absolutely stellar IMO

I won't go so far as "stellar" but I will definitely give it a "very good".

Put me on Dplanks side here - I absolutely go Stellar

[RichH55]

I was pretty meh on Poles after his first year, iirc I wanted a harder tank, e.g. moving Quinn and the 1 and 2 year deals aren't ever really to my liking for a rebuilding side. Of the actual signings, Patrick and Pringle had injuries which derailed them, Morrow and St. Brown were good for the cost, Jones was great and Muhammad was awful. Oh, Riley Reiff ended up being a headscratcher as well.

In 2023 Davis hasn't been great but isn't a total bust. Walker and Edwards are very nice, Edmunds I personally hate the contract for an off ball backer but he's not a terrible player. Billings is great (and to give Poles his flowers, he then resigned him for only $4.25 APY so one year was fine), Ngakoue didn't work out but I understand if he though it might sneak us into the playoffs in a make or break year for Fields...

2024 is obviously incomplete but the contract amounts to years look a bit better. We'll see if I end up disliking the Shelton contract length (my suspicion is that a 3 year deal for more APY would have been nice). But overall, the players look like good options.
On extensions DJ Moore and Johnson look like pretty reasonable for top of market deals, chapeau there. Sweat too for that matter though he's got more to prove than the other two.

Trading has had high highs with some lows. Sweat looks great (though it is just half a season so far) and trading our #1 was a masterstroke even if Williams doesn't pan out (jfc, please don't let that happen!). Claypool was a poor trade and, even though I think I was optimistic at the time, using a 2nd rounder on a guy that, at best, would need a big extension doesn't seem awesome. With Sweat the risk was that he wouldn't be worth the value of the extended contract whereas with Claypool he needed to prove he was even worth the extension as well.

Drafting is a bit early to say but looks pretty solid if unspectacular. Brisker and Gordon are decent starters, I think Jones a pretty good starter but nothing much else yet from 2022. 2023 has promise in Wright, Dexter and Stevenson though none have yet fully consolidated as good starters (which is fine, I just don't personally think they're there quite yet). Johnson and Scott could still do something, Pickens looks poor. 2024 we'll see.

The lack of my personal preference for buy low multi year deals aside (well that and overpaying for an off ball backer...), you can't ask for much more. The missteps haven't been major and the highs are looking pretty great. Ideally we need to see some pro bowl/all pro level players from the draft picks rather than just solid starters but as a foundation from a young GM, very promising.

Oh, and there are the undrafted pickups as well, he absolutely deserves props for Sanborn and Bagent!

I'm looking at essentially a brand new team after 3 offseasons (we have what, 6 players remaining from the Pace regime? Two of them specialists), complete overhauls take time, so really I'm content saying phase 1 was successful and now we're on to phase 2 to see if this team that's been built can win.

To me, it was apparent that year 1 was a fairly deliberate tank, and I'll call that successful in that:
- we secured the top pick and rotated out of several big contracts to position the team
- didn't overspend /lock ourselves into bad contracts
- got some building blocks in place considering the limited draft resources available

I've gone on record to argue that there were some intentional losses taken in 23 to jockey for position until it became clear that the DJ Moore trade had successfully hamstrung the Panthers and we'd get a 2nd straight #1 overall pick. There was a lot of "prove it" going on to evaluate different guys and who would get new money. The trade for Claypool obviously didn't pan out, but Poles didn't double down and try to make it work, he saw it wasn't working, didn't get hung up on the sunk cost, and moved on.

Going into year 3, it feels like we're positioned to be a winning team this year, and likely seriously competing for deep playoff runs in the next few years -- but we need to see that on the field. The biggest weaknesses are still both lines, but there's been work done on both. Next year's draft class is looking deep at Edge rusher and barring Nate Davis playing at a much higher level this year, likely a replacement at RG as well. Center we'll have to wait and see, but at least we've taken some swings there and looking to see how it shakes out.

My suspicion is we see Jenkins extended during the bye week, we've got Braxton Jones for 2 more years and his likely replacement on the roster developing.

I still don't really think the shredding of the Big Contracts was indicative of a tank that first year.

Sadly I just think that's where the team was

Only real exception is K Mack? And its not a slam dunk IMHO

I don't really think I agree on the intentional losses - but your mileage may vary

The Sunk Cost point is EXCELLENT though. I always really liked the old saw "Every GM makes mistakes, Bad GMs double down on them"