Ryan Poles took over as the General Manager of our beloved Bears in January 2022. Since then, he has watched the team go 15-36 while suffering its two longest losing streaks in franchise history. Yikes.
However, he has also made the fanbase optimistic in a way his predecessor never did by finding a legitimate quarterback and ensuring the team has sufficient draft capital to stock the team with young talent year after year. As we enter year four of the Poles era, fans have a good sense of how their GM operates.
They know he isn't afraid to take a big swing, but only if the value is right. He isn't going to mortgage the future if he doesn't think the team is ready to win now. They know he won't let one bad move deter him from taking another swing if the opportunity presents itself. Some moves have worked out great, while others have been downright awful. Let's look at Ryan Poles' top 10 most significant moves of his tenure.
But First, a Few Ground Rules.
Any moves made duringthisoffseason will not be counted. This will likely hurt Poles' overall score since he has done a great job, but the moves have yet to pan out, and any grade given would be based purely on speculation.Therefore, the signing of Ben Johnson, trade for Joe Thuney, singing Drew Dalman and Grady Jarrett, and even locking up Kyler Gordon will all be omitted from this list. Sorry, Ryan.
The Scoring System
When determining the impact of each move, the biggest move (#1), in terms of impact on the team, will be weighted higher than the 10th biggest move. The weights for each move will be as follows.
Weight percentage of each move
| Move | Weight |
|---|---|
10 | 4% |
9 | 6% |
8 | 7% |
7 | 8% |
6 | 10% |
5 | 11% |
4 | 12% |
3 | 13% |
2 | 14% |
1 | 15% |
This means that Ryan Poles's biggest move will account for 15% of his overall score, while his 10th biggest move will only account for 4%. Each move will be scored from 1 to 10. From there, the total score will be added up to sum up our final grade. Still with me? Let's go.
Honorable Mentions
With so many moves made every offseason, several could have made the list but were ultimately left out.
Trading for Keenan Allen
What better way to help out your rookie quarterback than by giving him a superstar wide receiver coming off a season with 108 catches, 1,243 yards, and seven touchdowns? Getting Allen for just a fourth-round pick seemed like a home runat the time. While that didn't translate to wins on the field, it could be argued that the move was instrumental to the growth of Caleb Williams. This move didn't make the list because the impact was reduced by Allen only being on the team for one year.
Extending Cole Kmet
It's easy to see why Cole Kmet is a fan favorite. Since entering the NFL, Kmet's catch rate percentage has increased yearly, with a career-high of 85.5% last year, a figure that led all tight ends. Prior to the 2023 season, the Notre Dame alum wasextended for four years and $50 million. His current salary puts him 8th among tight ends, which is about right given his skill set.
Selecting a Punter in the Fourth Round
If you liked this move at the time, chances are you still like it. If you hated it at the time, chances are you probably still hate it. The jury is still out on whether this was the right call, so we'll leave it out for now.
Drafting Caleb Williams over Jayden Daniels
This wasn't a controversial decision at the time, and in fact, most experts had Williams pegged as the clear-cut number-one quarterback prospect in this class. Poles was so sold on Williams that he didn't even bother meeting with any of the other prospects ahead of the draft. Fast forward to the 2024 season, and Daniels won Rookie of the Year while making it to the NFC Championship Game. Meanwhile, Williams had an up-and-down campaign. It is still way too early to tell which QB will end up better off, but I suspect both will have very long and fruitful careers.
Now onto the top ten...
No. 10: Drafting Braxton Jones
Ranking at number 10 is one of Ryan Poles' initial moves, the selection of current starting left tackle Braxton Jones. Coming out of Southern Utah, Jones wasn't ranked atop any lists of tackle prospects and ended up being the 168th pick in the draft. In fact, Poles moved up 20 spots by swapping second-round picks and throwing in a sixth-rounder for the Buffalo Bills. While Jones may not be the long-term answer at left tackle for the Bears, his service has far exceeded his expectations. Jones had a 2024 grade of 77.4 on Pro Football Focus(PFF), which puts him in the top 20 of all tackles evaluated.
Score: 8.1 out of 10
No. 9: Signing Nate Davis
If finding Braxton Jones in the 6th round was one of Poles' best moves on the offensive line, it's safe to say that signing Nate Davis may have been his worst. Was Davis the worst offensive lineman of Poles' tenure? Not likely, but his awfulness was magnified by additional factors.
Davis signed a three-year, $30 million deal with the Bears in 2023. He was advertised as the big fix for an offensive line that needed stability. Davis' tenure couldn't have played out worse. Not only did Davis miss half of the games he was eligible to play during his tenure, but he was also not very effective in the ones he did play. PFF assigns him a 2024 grade of only 53.6, ranking him 101 out of 135 guards.
Thefinal strawfor the Bears came when Davis was unexpectedly unavailable for a game against the New England Patriots, a day when multiple injuries occurred along the line, and depth was desperately needed.The only positive for Poles in this move was his recognition of the need for a lineman and his initiative to acquire one. He just got the wrong one. Couple that with Davis never really endearing himself to the fans or his teammates, and this move couldn't have ended soon enough.
Score 4.5 out of 10
No. 8: The Tremaine Edmunds Contract
The first big addition of Ryan Poles' tenure came in the formofsigningPro Bowl linebacker Tremaine Edmunds to a massive four-year, $71 million deal in March of 2023.The combination of Edmunds and linebacker TJ Edwards was supposed to fill the hole left when the Bearstradedaway All-Pro Roquan Smith to the Baltimore Ravens.While Edmunds has been a serviceable player, I think it's fair to say that the Bears were hoping for a little more.
Every great Bears defender who has stepped onto the field has had their moment. That one play or two that fans have seared into their brains. Khalil Mack's strip-sack of Aaron Rodgers for a touchdown, Roquan's pick-six against the Texans, and far too many to count for Tillman, Urlacher, and Peppers. Fans are still waiting for that moment from Edmunds. He often disappears from the game; you must remind yourself he is out there somewhere. For Poles' first big splash, I was hoping for a little more impact.
Score: 6.1 out of 10
No. 7: Drafting Velus Jones in the Third Round
Buckle up because this one is ugly. Velus Jones Jr. was the 71st pick of the 2022 NFL draft, and that sounds increasingly ludicrous the more you say it. The Bears had a clear need to add playmakers at the time, so I understand Poles drafting a receiver with that pick. Drafting Jones didn't make sense though, and made even less sense the more he played.
The 25-year-old rookie had one decent year at Tennessee before being drafted. The Bears hoped Jones' athleticism would immediately impact the team while he refined his WR skills and became a full-time player. However, if you can't figure out how to play receiver at 25, you likely won't at 26 or 27. The team tried making him a special teams ace, and after numerous gaffes, tried a last-ditch effort at running back. Jones was eventually released during the 2024 season. His belongings can be found at Goodwill.
Score: 3.8 out of 10.
No. 6: Trading for Chase Claypool
One of Ryan Poles's first big in-season moves ended up being one of his most costly. The Bears were 3-5 during the 2022 season when Poles decided to add some more firepower to the offense. He sent a 2023 2nd-round pick (which ended up being #32 overall) to the Pittsburgh Steelers in exchange for wide receiver Chase Claypool. Unlike the move to bring in Velus Jones, this made all kinds of sense on paper. Claypool was coming off a breakout year, and the Bears needed playmakers to take pressure off Darnell Mooney. This move would also give Justin Fields an additional weapon so that Poles could further evaluate what he had in the young quarterback.
After acquiring Claypool, the Bears immediately went on a 13-game losing streak, and Claypool never found any rhythm with Fields. He appeared in only 10 games, making 18 catches for 191 yards and one touchdown. Poles gets credit for trying, but ultimately, the outcome was disastrous. Claypool was traded to the Miami Dolphins in 2023 for a sixth-round pick.
Score: 4.2 out of 10
No. 5: Trading for Montez Sweat
Trading a second-round pick for a player midseason is always a risky move. Doing it back-to-back years after the first try blew up in your face? That puts it on another scale. During the 2023 season, the Bears sent a 2024 second-round pick to the Washington Commanders for edge rusher Montez Sweat. Unlike the Claypool deal a year before, the Sweat trade paid immediate dividends for Matt Eberflus' defense. In weeks 1-8, before acquiring Sweat, the Bears ranked near the bottom third in most defensive categories, including sacks (10). However, from weeks 9-17, the Bears vaulted up the ranks defensively and finished the season with 20 sacks, tied for 22nd.
Perhaps the most glaring upgrade was "opponent quarterback rating", where the Bears ranked 29th, allowing the opposing QBs to have a ranking around 101.6 prior to the acquisition. They finished ranked 2nd, allowing opposing QBs a ranking of 75.7. Sweat was the engine that made the Bears' defense gel, and he finished as the only player in NFL history to lead two different teams in sacks in the same season. The only negative of this deal is that some argue the Bears could have signed him outright in free agency rather than coughing up valuable draft capital.
Score: 8.3 out of 10
No. 4: Jaylon Johnson Extension
Jaylon Johnson signed a four-year, $76 million extension with the Bears in March of last year. This move was a long time coming, as Johnson was clearly due for a payday. At one point, it even looked like that might come from somewhere else. Poles locked up the all-pro cornerback with what looked like a reasonable deal at the time. Fast forward to this year, and this looks like one of the all-time bargains in the entire NFL.
Poles got ahead of the cornerback market. Johnson is now the 11th highest-paid cornerback at just under $20 million AAV. The highest belongs to Derek Stingley of the Houston Texans, who makes approximately $30 million AAV. Jaylon is a true leader on the defense, and being able to lock up one of the Bears' own sends a great message to the locker room.
Score: 8.8 out of 10
No. 3: Coaching Decisions
You cannot tell the whole story of Ryan Poles without diving into the coaching side of the equation. Poles and former head coach Matt Eberflus were hired days apart, and there was a lot of speculation on whether this pair would work. For his part, Poles never wavered in his support for the embattled head coach, but the staff as a whole never got going. Poles oversaw coaching incompetence on a scale few could even fathom.The entire situation was a circus, from hiring Eberflus to bringing in Luke Getsy, firing Getsy, retaining Flus, hiring Shane Waldron, dismissing Waldron, keeping Flus again, mishandling the whole Thomas Brown situation, and let's not forget the two coaches who were dismissed (David WalkerandAlan Williams) under mysterious circumstances.
The biggest indictment of this was putting your rookie quarterback through a situation where he will now be on his FOURTH offensive coordinator in just his second season. For comparison, Williams only threw six interceptions last year, so he has two fewer coordinators than picks for his NFL resume. Thus far, the only redeemable move here is the firing of Flus midway through the season. Now, can this all be redeemed by the arrival of Ben Johnson? That is very possible, but we can only grade on what we have experienced.
Score: 2.5 out of 10
No. 2: Trading Justin Fields
The Bears' drafting of Justin Fields felt like a momentum change for the franchise. For many fans, it was the first time they had seen the Bears take a super-talented quarterback from a legitimate power conference school. They knewthe kid could play quarterback. After all, they'd just seen it on the biggest stage when Fields torched the Clemson Tigers in the 2021 Sugar Bowl. Fields had a rough rookie year, which was mostly attributed to a lack of structure. In his second year, despite the team around him being bad, Fields was as exciting to watch as any player in the NFL. He had fans and coaches believing that if he could get some extra help, he would be the guy who became the first Bears quarterback to throw for 30 touchdowns and 4000 yards. His jersey was one of the best-selling in the NFL, and he even had other coaches talking about how hard it was to game plan for him.
Alas, it all fell apart in the third season. What was supposed to have been a leap year for Fields after the acquisition of DJ Moore turned into more of the same inconsistencies that plagued him early. There were too many sacks and fumbles and too few wins. One of the biggest moves Poles had to make was whether or not to pick up the 5th year option for Fields and trade the first overall pick (Caleb Williams) for another haul or whether it was time to move on from one of the most beloved fan favorites in recent memory. Poles decided to part ways and only received a sixth-round pick. However, it was clear this was the correct choice, as Williams' rookie year has statistically surpassed any year Fields had with the Bears.
Score: 7.7 out of 10
No. 1: The Haul
Was there any other choice? The move that very well may have saved Ryan Poles' job and set this franchise up for decades is worthy of the top spot. Poles trading the #1 overall pick for Carolina's first-round selection at No. 9, a late-second-round pick (No. 61), a 2024 first-round selection, and a 2025 second-round pick, along with wide receiver DJ Moore, is the best move on this list.This move has so many layers that it's hard to even think about all the potential impacts. The most obvious one is that it allowed Poles to continue to evaluate Fields while pairing him with a true #1 receiver in Moore. Speaking of Moore, acquiring him also meant that new quarterback Bryce Young would have one fewer dynamic weapon, weakening Carolina's roster significantly. This is significant because the Bears would hold the Panthers' #1 pick just a year later.
If Fields wasn't the answer, Poles now had two first-round picks in a quarterback-rich draft that could be used to move up and down the board and get his guy. The Panthers ended up with the worst record in the league, and the Bears were able to get the quarterback they wanted while still getting a premium player with their own first-round pick. If the Bears somehow used the 39th pick in the 2025 NFL draft to move around for Ashton Jeanty, the Bears would have turned that number one pick (Bryce Young) into Caleb Williams, Darnell Wright, Tyrique Stevenson, Tory Taylor, and Ashton Jeanty. There are literally no downsides to this move.
Score: 10 out of 10
Final Score
If you've made it this far, I'm sure you are anxious to see where Poles ended up. Based on the scoring rules discussed earlier, Poles finished with a score of 6.62 out of 10. One encouraging note is that most of Poles' lower-scoring moves were earlier in his tenure, with the higher-scoring moves coming in the last two offseasons. If this trend continues, Bears fans should be celebrating for years to come.
This article first appeared on On Tap Sports Net and was syndicated with permission.
