The Chicago Bears face arguably their most important off-season in at least a decade. Everything is in front of them. They have an exciting young quarterback in Justin Fields. They have more cap space than any other team by a wide margin and also hold the #1 pick in the draft. If GM Ryan Poles plays his cards right, he can set this organization up for significant long-term success in the coming decade. He’s under no illusions. The honeymoon period is over. This is where people will start expecting him to construct a winner. It doesn’t sound like he’s overwhelmed by that reality.
If anything, he enjoys the challenge. The guy is a competitor. This is what he’s been building towards since he became a scout in 2009. Poles spoke with Jeff Joniak on the Bears YouTube channel about what’s to come. There is no doubt the abundance of resources they have offers a chance for the team to improve drastically. It sounds like the GM remains focused on his original plan. He will build this roster through the draft. Not only that, but it appears he aims to be active in moving around the board via trades.
Ryan Poles has no fear of wheeling and dealing.
He proved that last year. Between March 10th and November 1st, the Bears conducted no fewer than nine trades. Four of them came during the 2022 draft. Poles doesn’t mind moving around, trusting in his front office and scouts to find the right players. There are reasons for this. His maneuvering helped Chicago to land guys like Braxton Jones, Dominique Robinson, and Trenton Gill. All were quality contributors as rookies. That doesn’t include undrafted free agents like Jack Sanborn and Josh Blackwell.
There is already buzz that the Bears could trade the #1 pick for a bounty picks from a quarterback-needy team. That would give Ryan Poles all the ammunition in the world to go crazy. It probably wouldn’t be his last trade, either. There might be many more to come before the weekend is over. This is not a GM content with sitting around. He wants to manipulate the board and find as many good players for his team as possible. These next few months could be entertaining for Bears fans if nothing else.
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