What GM candidate Ryan Poles could bring to the Chicago Bears
Ryan Poles could help shift a focus to the Chicago Bears offensive line
One thing that concerns me is how Poles rise through the ranks and only being with one team reminds me an awful lot of Ryan Pace. That said, I didn’t hate Pace as much as most Chicago Bears fans and I wouldn’t hold that similarity against Poles. The one glaring difference I would predict is Poles ability to evaluate offensive linemen — something Ryan Pace seemed to ignore until it was too late this past offseason and a big reason I think he was fired in the end.
Poles was a former offensive lineman out of Boston College (2005-2007). In fact, he was there while Matt Ryan was under center — not that this matters, but thought it was interesting. It is hard to trust anyone coming from the Chiefs after the Matt Nagy debacle, but this is different.
Poles was one of the minds behind the Chiefs rebuilding their offensive line after it failed them in the Super Bowl in 2020. They drafted new center Creed Humphrey, signed offensive guard Joe Thuney and traded for left tackle Orland Brown. The revamped offensive line finished in the top 10 of Pro Football Focus (PFF) rankings and were in the top five for sacks allowed (28), meanwhile the Bears gave up the most sacks (58) on the year. Not all are the fault of the line, but 30 more sacks is by far a problem.
We know that this team struggles on the offensive line. Ryan Pace was lucky that Jason Peters played as well as he did at the age of 39. The team has a few guys to build around in Cody Whitehair and rookies Teven Jenkins and Larry Borom. Will James Daniels return? Clearly, Sam Mustipher cannot be the starting center in 2022. Could Ryan Poles find the Chicago Bears their own version of Creed Humphrey in the 2022 draft despite not having a first-round pick – Humphrey was drafted in the second round last year so the answer is definitely maybe.