It isn’t a happy time for Ryan Poles at the moment. The Chicago Bears GM has watched his team stumble out of the gate to a 0-3 record. His quarterback appears to have regressed. Multiple players are calling out the coaching staff. Defensively, they’re still among the worst in the NFL and, to top it off, injuries are starting to mount. Three starters in the secondary are down. Left tackle Braxton Jones is down. Nothing is going right. Still, Poles has a job to do. He must prepare for the next phase of trying to lift this team out of the pits.
The man is a scout at heart. So he loves to attend college football games every week, getting eyes on top prospects whenever possible. He already watched star quarterback Caleb Williams earlier this month. Now, he has shifted his focus to another potential top-5 selection. College football insiders spotted the Bears GM on the sidelines of the game between Big Ten rivals Northwestern and Penn State. The latter has several prospects expected to go high in next year’s draft. None bigger than left tackle Olu Fashanu.
Many view him as the best offensive lineman in the entire class, and it’s not even close.
He might be the best left tackle prospect to come out of college since Laremy Tunsil in 2016. We’re talking All-Pro potential. He hasn’t allowed a single pressure on the quarterback yet this season. He’s big, strong, athletic, physical, and long. Experts felt he would’ve been the first offensive lineman taken in the 2023 draft. His decision to stay in school came as a surprise. If he makes it through this year healthy, it’s almost a foregone conclusion that he will be a top-5 selection next April. This would be great news for the Bears.
There is a reasonable possibility Ryan Poles could end up with two of them when the season ends. His team is already 0-3 and looks like one of the worst in the league. If that weren’t enough, the Carolina Panthers are also 0-3. Chicago holds their 1st round pick in 2024, thanks to the #1 pick trade a few months ago. Neither team looks like it is in any position to rebound this season. Adding Fashanu to the offensive line along with Darnell Wright could give the Bears their most talented tackle combo since Jimbo Covert and Keith Van Horne in the 1980s.
Everybody remembers how well that went. Fashanu is a rare prospect. Taking him would be a wise decision in any situation.
