The Chicago Bears swung their massive trade for Jeffery Simmons last week, well in advance of the deadline on November 10th. This led many to wonder if general manager Ryan Poles might not be done. There was probably one more move he could make. Maybe he could fortify the secondary with a cornerback or add some help on offense with a blocking tight end to replace Cole Kmet. In the end, nothing happened. The Bears went silent as the deadline passed, leaving many to wonder what happened.
In doing a diagnosis, there are three potential explanations for this. It could be one of them, or a mixture of all three. There is no question that the influence came from one of these directions. We’ll start with the simplest one.
Reason #1 – The Chicago Bears’ first trade has yielded huge results.
Why double down when the first move was so successful? Simmons has only played two games for the Bears, and he’s already giving them everything they could’ve hoped for. He wrecked the Seahawks two weeks ago in his debut and then agitated the Buccaneers on Sunday night both with his play and his mouth. He already has 2 sacks and has been an instant help to everybody else up front. Montez Sweat had a sack in Seattle, and Austin Booker had one against Tampa Bay. The Bears allowed just 24 points despite 5 turnovers by the offense last weekend. Simmons has made the entire team better.
Reason #2 – Poles was reluctant to give away more draft capital.
The thing to remember here is that Poles’ philosophy has always been to build through the draft. Shipping out those two 1st rounders had to sting for him. He knows you run the risk of letting the well of young talent run dry if you give up too many draft picks. That is why he was likely not interested in any other significant trade on the market. He probably hoped to find a decent bargain for a late-round pick swap and couldn’t find any that would’ve made the Chicago Bears better. So he opted to stick with what he’d already accomplished. Remember, both Jerry Angelo and Ryan Pace had bad habits of continuing to give away picks after their blockbuster trades for Jay Cutler and Khalil Mack. Poles didn’t want to fall into that same trap.
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Reason #3 – The asking prices likely went up.
This also likely played a part in Poles’ decision. Giving up two 1st round picks was bound to impact the trade market. Suddenly, other teams will start thinking they could get similar value for players, not realizing that most buyers weren’t willing to give up that kind of package for somebody who probably isn’t on the same level as Simmons. It wasn’t helped when Jacksonville gave up 1st and 2nd round picks for Jordan Davis. Once that happened, the market kind of went quiet. That is almost always because the asking prices went up.
If there is one thing we know about Poles, it is that he has a certain level in mind for every player he targets in trades. If the price goes past that level, the Bears general manager will hang up the phone. It is a level of discipline you learn to appreciate. While boring from an action point of view, it’s hard to argue with where the Bears are at. They have one of the best defensive tackles in the league and are maintaining control of 19 of their allotted 21 picks over the next three years.
