Grading Chicago Bears GM missing on Ryan Bates in free agency

The Chicago Bears had an interesting first off-season under Ryan Poles. The team admittedly whiffed on two big signings early into the process with Larry Ogunjobi and Ryan Bates. In the case of Ogunjobi, the Bears may have missed in the short term, but it could be for the better in the long term.

When they whiffed on Ryan Bates, it may have ended up being a bit of a blessing in disguise. Now, there are two ways to view this.

Did Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles regret missing on Ryan Bates?

First, Ryan Bates started 15 games for the number two seed Buffalo Bills. He was not a weakness by any means, so he would have obviously been helpful to the Chicago Bears’ issues upfront. Bates even played some center this season when Mitch Morse got banged up.

He was a tackle in college, played guard for most of his NFL career, then moved to center when called upon. That is who you want to invest in.

There is a world where Bates slots in at right tackle, or even center due to the Lucas Patrick injury, and then we see the right side of the offensive line, or parts of the interior look great.

However, the reality is that the Chicago Bears signed Ryan Bates because they wanted him to start at right guard, not tackle or center. That is where is primarily playing this season, and throughout his career.

Bates has been fine at right guard, but Teven Jenkins has been better. Per PFF, Jenkins has a 97.5 pass-blocking efficiency rating, which matches Bates. However, Jenkins has an 82 run block grade, and Bates was at 59.

One huge difference between the two is that Bates played 945 snaps while Jenkins played 576. Still, this speaks to the reality that Bates would have started at right guard. They signed him to play right guard, and he would have never given the job up.

Maybe there is a world through all of the mixing and matching that the team would move Bates somewhere else, but this team was also hesitant to start Jenkins over Lucas Patrick when Patrick was playing with a cast.

If the Chicago Bears sorted things out, Bates would have been a solid addition. If all Bates was going to do was prevent the team from realizing that Teven Jenkins was their best option at right guard, it probably was not going to be a good decision.

Did this work out for the team, or would you have rather seen Bates, than trusted this coaching staff to find the right starting five, with Bates and Jenkins starting somewhere?