Ryan Poles is the youngest GM in the NFL at age 36. That would make it easy for people to assume he’s immature and not prepared for the job ahead of him. In reality, that isn’t true. He’s benefited from working under three distinctly different general managers in Kansas City. That education prepared him well for what he must do with the Chicago Bears. It taught him several lessons on what to do and, more importantly, what not to do.
When speaking with Kevin Fishbain at the NFL owners meetings, Poles reflected on one of his key traits. Something he’s worked to hone over the years. Gaining control over his emotions. He believes to be a successful general manager; he must approach every situation with a clear head. The worst thing he can do is let emotions cloud his judgment or make an impulsive decision when something doesn’t go as planned.
Those are the moments that can ruin a team in the long term.
“I never feel rattled,” he said. “I just adjust and adapt. I try not to get overly emotional about things, and I think that’s important in this job. Some of the leaders that I’ve seen and grown up with, that’s how they operated, and it allows you to be disciplined and not do crazy things under pressure. It allows you to pivot when you get hit with something unexpected. All of that has come up in a really short period of time.”
This statement probably hits Bears fans harder than most because of the man Ryan Poles replaced. Ryan Pace developed a somewhat dubious reputation for knee-jerk reactions during his time as GM. Among them include handing Mike Glennon $45 million as a free agent, moving up one spot in the 2017 draft for Mitch Trubisky, moving up from the 4th round to the 2nd round for Anthony Miller in 2018, and moving up for David Montgomery in the 3rd round in 2019.
Each of those moves felt like they were unnecessarily aggressive. The common statement made about Pace was he often “bid against himself” in certain situations. For somebody that liked to show a calm demeanor on camera, he too often seemed to lack patience. Poles aims to avoid those mistakes. He, too, wants to make big moves, but not at the cost of his team’s future. It is wild to think how different the two men are.
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