Ryan Poles mismanaged the Chicago Bears' roster with these two colossal mistakes

Mistake No. 1: The Bears should not have drafted Velus Jones

Looking back at the results of the 2022 NFL Draft, the biggest flaw in Ryan Poles' strategy was the selection of Velus Jones in the third round. Jones went off the board as the 71st player selected. He was supposed to be a speedy option for Justin Fields to build a repertoire with but that never happened. In fact, Jones has yet to amount to much of anything in the NFL and Fields is now the backup quarterback in Pittsburgh. Crazy how quickly things can change within the NFL.

The one area I am not fond of how Ryan Poles has attacked the roster is the offensive line. Drafting Darnell Wright over Jalen Carter was the right decision -- even if Wright doesn't turn out to be a star. The Bears needed to heavily address the trenches over the last three years and outside of Wright, the way Poles has built the offensive line has been below average at best. Trying to piece together the interior of the line with guys like Coleman Shelton, Ryan Bates, Patrick Sheldon, Lucas Patrick, etc. is not good enough. Poles has stated he wants to build through the draft - we need more OL.

Well, if we look back at who was available when the Chicago Bears selected Velus Jones, the Bears had other options along the offensive line that would have made as big, if not a bigger, impact on the roster as Jones.

Jones has done more harm than good over his career and even moving him to running back has not been able to rejuvenate his career. Poles could have traded him, yet he held onto him just to watch him be inactive most weeks. Instead, the team could have had Bernhard Raimann competing with Braxton Jones. Jones was a fifth-round draft pick of Poles in 2022 but has not proven enough to be the unquestioned starter. Selecting Raimann in the third round could have allowed Poles to go in another direction when he selected Jones, or he could have taken both and had a competition.

Sean Rhyan, Dylan Parham, Abraham Lucas, and Daniel Faalele are a few offensive linemen the Bears should have taken over Velus Jones. Even if they were focused on a WR at that point, Romeo Dobbs or Khalil Shakir would have been better options. However, drafting offensive linemen often until you find the right ones makes the most sense. Build through the trenches!