GM Ryan Poles doesn’t operate according to “traditional” methods. Typical GMs don’t trade the #1 overall pick. He did. Typical GMs don’t give up valuable draft capital for veteran players when their team is clearly in rebuild mode. Poles has done it twice. He whiffed massively on Chase Claypool last year. That didn’t stop him from doing it again this past October, flipping a 2nd round pick to Washington for defensive end Montez Sweat. Poles felt the defense needed a force multiplier up front. Sweat fit that profile perfectly.
Plenty of experts immediately lambasted Poles for the move. Former GM Michael Lombardi and ESPN analytics expert Seth Walder were the two most vocal. They had no issues calling the trade outright stupid and a complete waste.
They weren’t alone. Others said Poles was out of his mind for such a move. Fast forward a few weeks, and those same people are pretty silent right now. Sweat has played five games in a Bears uniform this year. He already has 3.5 sacks and 10 QB hits in that span. That doesn’t even include two pass deflections and two tackles for a loss. Since his arrival, the Bears defense has allowed only 18.2 points per game. Their improvement has been remarkably rapid.
The Sweat trade is sweet redemption for Ryan Poles.
He took a lot of heat for the disastrous Claypool move, especially since that pick ended up becoming #32 in the draft. The fact he didn’t become gun-shy from the mistake is a testament to his mental fortitude. He knew he had two 1st round picks waiting in the 2024 draft. So he could afford to be aggressive with that 2nd rounder if the right player became available. When Washington put Sweat up for sale, Poles was ready to pounce. He landed the freakish pass rusher and immediately locked him up to a four-year extension, giving the Bears a legitimate presence up front to rival Khalil Mack.
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This doesn’t even account for several other names on that defense stepping up. Jaquan Brisker, Kyler Gordon, T.J. Edwards. Tremaine Edmunds, and Gervon Dexter have all made big players over the past few weeks. All of them were acquired by Ryan Poles. He’s building something serious in Chicago, on both sides of the ball. His decision at quarterback remains uncertain, but his vision is coming into focus.
