Big moves are happening within the Chicago Bears scouting department. Last month, right after the draft, it was revealed the organization had parted ways with two of their key scouts. Midlands scout Drew Raucina and national scout Sam Summerville were both released. It was somewhat unexpected by GM Ryan Poles, who’d expressed satisfaction with his staff up to this point. Whatever the reasons, it opened up two notable positions. However, it appears the organization isn’t done yet.
According to Neil Stratton of Inside The League, Poles is reshaping the front office even further. Assistant college scouting director Breck Ackley becomes Director of college scouting while national scout Francis St. Paul takes over the assistant job. In addition, Southwest area scout John Syty and Southeast area scout Brendan Rehor received promotions to national scout positions. That means three areas jobs, presuming they keep the Midlands, are now open. It is a significant shakeup.
The Chicago Bears must proceed carefully.
Both the Southwest and especially the Southeast are vital regions for NFL teams when scouting. The Southeast holds the majority of powerhouse programs, such as Alabama, Georgia, LSU, Florida State, Texas A&M, Tennessee, Ole Miss, and others. The Bears have dipped into that pool successfully multiple times in recent years.
- Darnell Wright (Tennessee)
- Gervon Dexter (Florida)
- Tyrique Stevenson (Miami)
- Roquan Smith (Georgia)
- Eddie Jackson (Alabama)
One can’t ignore the Southwest, though. While the dividing lines aren’t clear, the region could house programs like Oklahoma, Oklahoma State, Texas, Utah, Arizona, Colorado, and Arizona State. That area has also done well for the Chicago Bears.
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- Braxton Jones (Southern Utah)
- Roschon Johnson (Texas)
- Teven Jenkins (Oklahoma State)
- Jaylon Johnson (Utah)
- Henry Melton (Texas)
It will be interesting to see what Poles has in mind. He may decide to promote from within, or he could have eyes on some outside names. We should know by early June.
@TGena I agree fundamentally with your idea of accountability, but businesses and government consist of people who make both bad and good decisions. A team will never get better if they don’t make changes or corrections to bad decisions. I don’t expect Poles (or Pace) to ADMIT they made poor decisions, just find ways to fix them. Khalil Mack was an expensive acquisition, but so was Chase Claypool, the difference was what they were able to produce after they were acquired. But we should ALL admit that Chicago general managers biggest, most enduring, and continual mistakes has been the inability… Read more »
Re-organizing the entire structure of this team is long overdue. Whether it is scouting, or development, they have not been getting nationally impactful results and certainly, not with any kind of consistency. Brian Urlacher may be the most significant envisioning of a player. Drafting a safety to coach, train and structure someone who could redefine the linebacker position was one, but the Bears must continue that direction. All the successful teams evolved BEFORE the rest of the league (see the use of Patrick Mahomes and the Bears confusion about how to coach and utilize Justin Fields – then look at… Read more »
Well Poles should just fire all the scouts and just listen to twty and tgena. They know everything. At least they think they do. Can’t believe that neither is a GM yet.
I think the rest of the staff would kick me out of the scouting room in about 8 minutes, and when I say 8 minutes, that would really be about 4 minutes.
I mean, if they could shift things around so I could take the New England region, that would be cool. I do have some free time…