Ryan Poles should thank his lucky stars for managing to land Caleb Williams and Ben Johnson. Were it not for those two, the Chicago Bears would likely be 0-4, and Poles might already be fired. It has become increasingly evident that the man has poor evaluation skills in critical areas. Nowhere has that proven more obvious than the defensive line. Outside of Gervon Dexter, the Bears have failed to develop anybody of note for their front four. Meanwhile, Poles has tried subsidizing it with multiple high-priced veterans.
All of them are either underachieving or outright bad.
Friday’s injury report brought further confirmation of Poles’ blunder. Grady Jarrett, who signed for $14.25 million per year in March, was the only player not to practice. He already missed the game in Las Vegas with a knee injury, and it doesn’t seem as if there’s been any improvement. Add the fact that Jarrett has yet to register a sack, and you can’t help but wonder what purpose he serves outside of veteran leadership. What’s worse is that the contract is basically locked in place due to dead money until 2027. So the Bears are stuck with it.
Ryan Poles’ misfires don’t end there.
Jarrett’s issues have managed to hide how underwhelming Dayo Odeyingbo has been as well. The big defensive end signed for $16 million a year. While he has been a great run defender, he has only one sack in five games. His six total pressures rank him 82nd in the NFL. Ryan Poles’ two biggest veteran additions to the roster have been massive disappointments. This furthers the growing list of evidence that the Bears GM has a serious issue evaluating the veteran market. We can’t forget other setbacks, such as Chase Claypool, Nate Davis, Darrell Taylor, and Ryan Bates.
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All of this has put the Bears in a tight financial situation. They don’t have any clear ways to free up cap space for next offseason unless they’re willing to restructure several contracts. That is something they’ve wanted to avoid. The only way to get rid of Jarrett’s deal is by trading him, and that is all but impossible given recent events. Barring an unexpected turnaround, it appears that the organization will need to correct these mistakes early in the draft.
Having Poles involved in that process doesn’t exactly inspire confidence.
