Plenty of people have weighed in on the disaster that was the Nate Davis experience over the past year and a half. The veteran guard was supposed to help stabilize the Chicago Bears’ offensive line moving forward. Instead, he became the poster child for maybe the worst signing in modern franchise history. It was one long list of nagging injuries, missed practices, and blown-blocking assignments. It didn’t take long for people to recognize Davis just didn’t seem interested in playing. That put a ton of heat on GM Ryan Poles, who spearheaded the decision to sign him.
He finally spoke publicly about the situation during his weekly interview with ESPN 1000. Poles didn’t try to sugarcoat it. The signing was a failure, and it was time to move on.
“It was just time. It was time. It wasn’t working out the way that it was supposed to. I had a good conversation with Nate on the way out. There are some lessons to learn from many different angles here. Some controllable, some uncontrollable, but at the end of the day it was best to move on and move in a different direction.”
Here is where it gets interesting. Poles admitted that the process leading to Davis’ signing may not have been the best. It is something he and others in Halas Hall must reevaluate moving forward.
“We have to make sure we learn from those situations and some added parts of the process to make sure we have success.”
Ryan Poles hasn’t had great luck in free agency.
It started with having to fail Larry Ogunjobi for medical reasons in 2022, costing the team a quality addition to the defense. Al-Quadin Muhammad, Alex Leatherwood, Rasheem Green, and, of course, Davis have all proven to be disappointments. Only T.J. Edwards and DeMarcus Walker appear to have been well worth the money. Tremaine Edmunds has been fine. It is clear the Bears may not have the best evaluation process in their pro scouting department, which often leads to big misfires like this.
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It might explain why the Bears brought in D.J. Hord from Seattle to become their director of pro scouting. The Seahawks have had lots of success adding veteran players in recent years, like Geno Smith, Jarran Reed, Poona Ford, Carlos Dunlap, Uchenna Nwosu, Quandre Diggs, Gabe Jackson, and Leonard Williams. His presence might help Ryan Poles become better at pinpointing the right types of players to target.
