Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles hints at some potential serious moves

While the Chicago Bears are busy preparing to take on the Seattle Seahawks in tonight’s second preseason game of the year, the outcome of said game is not exactly the biggest news of the night.

General manager Ryan Poles spoke with ESPN on Thursday, and let’s just say that what he had to reveal should strike fear into the hearts of many players on the current roster.

At the very least, one particular quote should make them a little nervous.

When speaking with ESPN, Poles said something pretty blunt, letting everyone know that his roster could look much different in a couple of weeks.

Ryan Poles may not be done making moves prior to the Chicago Bears’ regular season opener.

Now, what Poles said is a pretty obvious quote if we’re talking about a literal meaning. Yes, the rosters are going to be cut down from 85 to 53 in a matter of weeks. That’s a huge jump. We’re talking about 32 players being without a job and hoping for a spot on the practice squad.

But, something tells me that Poles wasn’t going for the literal, obvious reasoning, here.

One can only wonder what Poles would mean when analyzing this quote even further.

For a while now, the Bears and All Pro linebacker Roquan Smith have been in a contract dispute which resulted in Smith requesting to be traded. While that situation seemed ugly at the time, Smith has actually still “held in” rather than holding out of camp altogether.

Sticking around his teammates and being there for the team shows he indeed wants to be a Bear, but would Poles be so bold to actually trade him?

If it’s not about Smith, maybe Poles is hinting at the team finally seeing a good enough offer to deal Robert Quinn before the season gets started.

But, if we’re going down that avenue, we have to go the opposite direction, too. Maybe, just maybe, Poles has finally had enough of the chatter around his first offseason being a failure in terms of surrounding Justin Fields with enough talent and protection.

Poles is a former offensive lineman. We have to remember that. Maybe, the offensive line isn’t good enough in his eyes (and everyone else’s, obviously). Suppose he sets out to upgrade the line via trade — that would be a welcomed sight.

By the same token, Poles could go out and acquire wide receiver help, which is another position fans are seriously concerned about.

Just what did he mean by this quote? We don’t know right now, but we will soon find out in just a matter of days.