As we have been grading the draft, signings, and trades made by Ryan Poles during his first year as the Chicago Bears General Manager, one area that has to be commended was his ability to find help via UDFAs.
The draft weekend is an insane process, and you have to be prepared to make calls all day and have your scouts ready to finalize deals. You have to work quickly, because you only have so many UDFA deals to give out, so you have to be careful with who you call, but other teams are calling too.
With that in mind, you have to be encouraged by how Ryan Poles handled the UDFA process during his first draft weekend.
Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles has done well identifying UDFAs
The obvious draft was Jack Sanborn. Sanborn started in six games and was productive enough that many assume he will be the starter again in week one next season. It may have helped that Sanborn was a local player, but Ryan Poles was able to land him. Nailing a potential long-term starter with a UDFA contract is a huge win, especially for a first-year GM who came in with limited resources.
Next, he signed Jaylon Jones. Jones made it to the 53-man roster and he started in four games himself. His play was more up and down, but he should be back in the mix next season, competing with Kindle Vildor for the CB3 or CB4 role. Even as a depth piece who excels on special teams, Jones was a nice find.
Lastly, Ryan Poles signed Chase Allen and Jake Tonges. Tonges filled a role as a fullback and tight end. However, with Khari Blasingame and Trevon Wesco added as well, the team pushed Tonges from the active roster to the practice squad. Still, they called him up for week 18 and signed him to a futures deal.
Chase Allen was on the PS for most of the season. He did get some NFL action but was not as active as Tonges. Still, this is another tight end who will be heading to training camp next season.
Finding two depth tight ends who are on the PS, a potential depth corner who will make the roster, and a potential starter in the UDFA class is a great start.
This is what he did without resources. Perhaps if Poles added this type of UDFA class to a strong draft class and a healthy free-agent group the perspective of his job would be looking a lot stronger.