While the Chicago Bears did not make blockbuster moves, they did make a couple of big swings with trades for Jonah Jackson and Joe Thuney.
On the surface, Ryan Poles' moves to add two starters before free agency even starts is brilliant. However, the decisions suggest desperation.
Is Chicago Bears General Manager Ryan Poles still on the hot seat?
The Bears traded for Jackson after reports surfaced that he was going to be released, and they added Thuney at age 33, which could be near the end for him. Each move should help the Bears in the short-term but there will be questions of the long-term fit.
The reality is that Poles does not care. Towards the end of this past season, you could feel the media heat up around him as Matt Eberflus was no longer around to blame. Kevin Warren appears to be hovering over him, and while he landed Ben Johnson, he has to know that if Johnson gets off to a rocky start, or Williams does not take a step, Poles will be the one to blame, not the other two.
So, Poles will do everything in the here and now to win. If Thuney gets hurt, Jackson is not what the team wanted and the line falters again, Poles will not be around to deal with the consequences of the picks being traded.
However, if this hits, there is a chance we see an impact similar to Ryan Pace as well. Pace was known for trading draft picks and going all-in every year to win. It ended up with the team having an old roster with a bunch of bad contracts and no draft picks to get out of it. Poles is veering closer and closer to that construction with these moves.
Even with Pace, the moves hit at times, and the Bears had a home playoff game with real Super Bowl hopes. If Poles pulls it off this time because Caleb Williams is better than Mitchell Trubisky, no one will care. However, if the team does not win in this window, the lack of draft picks will eventually catch up to the depth of this roster, and the timing will be poor because they will need to put a lot of money into Caleb Williams, Rome Odunze, and Darnell Wright.
Hopefully, Ryan Poles can balance desperation and future success and find ways to add more picks during the draft.