Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Poles was rated as the 14th-best GM in the NFL. Patrick Daugherty of NBC Sports did a ranking of the best GMs in the NFL and noted that Poles might be closer to the hot seat than the top ten.
Is Ryan Poles a better GM than the National Media suggests?
Poles has pretty clearly defined strengths and weaknesses to his resume. He obviously is going to go down as the man who hired Ben Johnson and drafted Caleb Williams. That is going to buy him a lot of slack in Chicago.Â
However, his draft record has been up and down. Big misses on day 2 of the draft, such as Velus Jones, Zacch Pickens, Kiran Amedgadjie, and Shemar Turner, have added up and put the Bears in a spot where the core of their roster has had to be put together in free agency.
This has also led to the team being thin at left tackle, center, defensive tackle, and edge rusher, although the offensive line holes were a bit out of his control.Â
Daugherty wrote that while Poles did bring in Johnson, it is a blessing and a curse. He mentions that Kwesi Adofo-Mensah brought Kevin O’Connell to Minnesota, and now he is out of a job, while O’Connell remains. So, if there is ever an issue between the two sides, Johnson will be the one who stays.
Still, the thing that tends to be missing is how he was able to get Caleb Williams. Poles did not simply have a team finish with the first overall pick. He inherited a bad roster and then turned a team that got the number one overall pick into a package of picks and players that eventually led to Caleb Williams, DJ Moore, and Gervon Dexter. It was one of the more savvy trades in recent NFL history and arguably the best trade in Bears franchise history. That is going to give him so much sway.Â
Beyond that, it appears the Bears are drafting well with Johnson and Poles collaborating. Colston Loveland and Luther Burden are expected to be breakout candidates. This shows that Poles were open to letting Johnson pick his flavor, and Poles could get it done. You could probably nitpick and find a way to get Poles closer to number ten than you could argue that he is below average as a GM at this point.
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