Windy City Gridiron
Dan Durkin takes a deep dive into the three-year tenure of Ryan Poles to determine if the franchise truly benefitted from his time on task or if the mistakes are too glaring to gloss over. Here, in part three, he examines his 2024 moves and speculates on what’s next for Poles and the Bears.
For the second straight year, the Chicago Bears found themselves at the center of the NFL universe. Flush with the fourth-most cap space and the top overall pick for the second-straight year, 2024 was shaping up as Ryan Poles’ year to plant his flag. The 2023 season showed progress. Had they not blown three double-digit leads late in games, they could’ve made the playoffs.
The biggest decision for Poles remained what to do at the quarterback position. He didn’t draft Justin Fields. It would be teetering on malpractice to have the first-overall selection in successive seasons and not draft your own quarterback, right?
The evaluation of Fields was nuanced. The playmaking flashes he showed were primarily with his legs. His limitations as a passer were both in and out of his control. He needed to improve as a processor and be quicker to progress through his reads and throw to every horizontal and vertical level on the field. But talent issues along the offensive line were real, and even with the addition of D.J. Moore, more weapons were needed.
Outside of Fields, Poles had to make decisions on a handful of pending free agents. He released Pace-holdovers Cody Whitehair and Eddie Jackson, saving roughly $21M in cap space. Next up were decisions on star cornerback Jaylon Johnson and wide receiver Darnell Mooney, who reportedly turned down an extension the previous offseason and bet on himself heading into 2023.
Cornerback is a premium position, so the contract with Johnson was going to be costly. Poles applied the non-exclusive franchise tag, which provided the Bears first right of refusal if he were to sign with another club or receive two first-round picks as compensation if they chose not to match.
Two days after applying the tag, Poles inked Johnson to a four-year, $76M deal with $51.4M guaranteed. Premium money for a premium player, who can erase one half of the field.
Mooney’s bet on himself didn’t work out. His performance dipped in 2023, and he was set to test the open market.
Prior to free agency starting, Poles swung a trade with the Buffalo Bills and finally landed guard Ryan Bates, a player who he coveted from the beginning of his tenure. The move cost the Bears a fifth-round pick and created modest competition at center and guard.
In terms of needs, the Bears still needed to improve the talent along the offensive line. Center has been a hole for years. The guard and tackle positions lacked depth. Considering he and assistant general manager Ian Cunningham were both former offensive linemen and the organizations they came from (Kansas City for Poles, and Baltimore and Philadelphia for Cunningham), one...
