This past offseason was supposed to be a huge offseason for Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Poles. Poles admittedly cleaned up the salary cap in his first year as GM to make sure the team was in great standing to start to put this team together in the 2023 off-season. At 1-5, it is clear that something went wrong.
Which signings that Ryan Poles made have hurt them the worst so far?
3. The Chicago Bears are not getting their money's worth for Yannick Ngakoue
This was always the fear with Yannick Ngakoue. He was a feast or famine player who could get sacks when his team had the lead and when he had others around him helping out, but he was not known as a consistent threat, and he was unsigned late into the summer for a reason. Every reason has come up this year for the Chicago Bears.
So far, Yannick Ngakoue ranks 31st in pressures. Among 82 qualified rushers, he ranks 76th in win rate and 66th in pass rush production, per PFF. This is as bad as he has been. Last year, he had a 7.1% win rate, and the year before, it was 10.7%. This year his win rate is down to 4.7%.
His pass rush productivity is down from 6.6 in 2021 and 6.9 in 2022 to 5.2 this year. On top of being a letdown in the pass-rushing department, he is the same in the run-defense area, but this was expected. Still, when he is not doing the thing he is supposed to do and struggling in the other areas, it feels so much worse.
The Bears' best bet right now would be to trade Ngaokoue. He is going to leave after this year anyway, and they will get nothing for him. His name value could get something from a team that needs pass-rush help at this point in the season.