It hasn’t taken long to realize one thing about Ryan Poles. He is a significant departure from Ryan Pace in every way possible. Not just in terms of personality or temperament. It is also evident that his priorities as a GM are different. Pace was a calm and somewhat introverted personality. His tenure was marked by targeting players in the draft he deemed as high upside. Measurables were always a big thing, and he seemed to favor skill position players early. Of his seven top picks in every draft he ran, none of them were linemen.
According to former Philadelphia Eagles executive Joe Banner via Kevin Fishbain and Adam Jahns of The Athletic, fans can expect that to change under Poles. He is familiar with how the Kansas City Chiefs organization operates in the draft. It is very similar to what his Eagles did for so many years in the 2000s. Two key aspects will stand out right away with Poles’ approach.
“Their emphasis is on speed. Their emphasis is on trying to dominate both lines of scrimmage and a quarterback who isn’t just somebody with a great arm but somebody who has real insights, intelligence, whatever term you want to use, great processing ability and will stay very, very consistent about that.”
Those happen to be two things the Bears lack.
Offensively, they don’t have much speed to speak of. Darnell Mooney is the only skill position player categorized as fast for the Bears. Everywhere else suffers from an evident lack of it, including tight end and running back. The offensive line gave up over 50 sacks in 2021, and the defensive line struggled to stop the run most of this past season. So neither can be called a strength of the team. Banner also pointed out the Andy Reid influence on Poles. In every draft, the future Hall of Fame coach had certain priorities he wanted to adhere to.
“He puts a very high emphasis on the intangibles: work ethic, how bad do they want to be great, how much ability do they have to put their own self-interests behind the greater good of the team,” Banner said.
It might sound a bit over the top, but it isn’t. The reality is not every player who comes from college to the NFL has the same desire to be great as others. Many view pro football as the easiest way to make money. They could take it or leave it from a perspective of priorities. Reid has always made sure to target players who eat, drink, and sleep the game at all hours of the day. Just like Poles himself does.
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Ryan Poles has something most important. A vision.
He has remained consistent in his answer every time he’s been asked the question since becoming Bears GM. He wants a tough, physical, and fast football team. That is it. Clarity of purpose. There is no gray area, which is essential. If a player doesn’t check those boxes, it is unlikely the Bears will view him as a viable part of their roster. More than that, the players must have one key trait above all others—undying love for the game.
It is hard to disagree with any of those requirements. The best teams in the NFL always tend to share similar traits. Fast, physical, and showing a clear desire to win more than most. All things the Bears have lacked for way too long. Even their 2018 team was accused of not having enough of those traits. Ryan Poles aims to fix that. It comes down to a matter of when, not if that happens.
Resources are his biggest obstacle right now.
Chicago has just five draft picks to work with at the moment, along with a modest $43 million in salary cap space. It is safe to say Poles won’t achieve all of his goals for the Bears in one offseason. Not even close. So he is likely to focus on top priorities. Given all of the signs up to this point, it will be in the trenches, especially on the offensive side.
