Why Ryan Poles Outfoxed The League With Simmons Trade According To Super Bowl-Winning Coach

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles did something no one ever has before. He became the first in league history to trade two 1st round pick for a defensive tackle. Up to this point, it’s only happened for edge rushers like Micah Parsons and Khalil Mack. Jeffery Simmons was the first of his position to break through. It has many wondering if Poles made a bad miscalculation. If nobody has ever done this before, it has to be a bad move, right? Not based on what Jim Schwartz thinks.

The longtime defensive coordinator and Super Bowl champion believes that defensive tackles are the most important position on that side of the ball. His reasoning came in multiple parts. For one, it’s harder to double-team them, and by simple geography, they’re closer to the quarterback. While edge rushers are highly important, they’re also easier to scheme around with tight end chips and sliding interior guys outside to help. With defensive tackles, the only way to help is by sliding the center to them. That leaves everybody else one-on-one. Schwartz explained this to Daniel Jeremiah on ESPN.

Ryan Poles understands that same lesson.

For one, people forget that he is a former guard. He understands how disruptive defensive tackles can be if you can’t block them consistently. Matt Ryan didn’t have many bad games in college, but when he did, it was often because opposing defensive tackles squeezed the pocket on him. You saw it with Calaise Campbell in 2006. Then Poles saw the same thing happen in Kansas City with Chris Jones, who carried the Chiefs’ defense to three Super Bowl titles. The GM stated his reasoning was pretty clear.

You don’t win a championship these days without at least a good one.

“If you do the research, Super Bowl teams, probably going back to 2018, since then, they all have what we call a red-level interior defensive lineman. So in order to get to there, you need one. I really believe that. We’ve been searching. With the draft, again we go best available. Sometimes the draft doesn’t provide that to you. I know free agency really doesn’t do that at that level. It’s very hard for gets to get out of the building when they have all those things that we’re talking about. So we’ve been searching. It was an opportunity we had to jump on.”

He actually undersold it.

If you go back to 2000, there have been 15 teams to hoist the Lombardi Trophy that had at least one defensive tackle who was a Pro Bowler. Keep in mind, the list below doesn’t include names like B.J. Raji in 2010 and Ndamukong Suh in 2020. Both were very good in those respective seasons.

So it’s possible Ryan Poles was ahead of everybody else when he threw down the chips to get Simmons. There is no question that the 29-year-old is in the same tier as Jones, Cox, and Seymour. A dominant force that requires constant double teams. The last time the Bears had anything close to that was prime Tommie Harris in 2005 and 2006. Everybody remembers how great he made those defenses.

Remember, the Bears don’t need an all-time great unit to win a title. They just need one that can disrupt the line of scrimmage often enough to hinder the opponent from scoring 21 points. This team’s offense is strong enough to beat anybody under those conditions. The Bears are 9-3 in such games. One was a game Caleb Williams didn’t finish, and another was one he didn’t play.