One thing we’ve learned over the past calendar year is that GM Ryan Poles might be pretty good at his job. It started manifesting when he swung the trade with Carolina for the #1 overall pick in 2023, securing what became D.J. Moore, Darnell Wright, Tyrique Stevenson, Caleb Williams, and a 2nd round pick in 2025. Moore is already a star. Wright and Stevenson had good rookie seasons. Williams is widely considered the best QB to come out of college in years. It feels like Poles has put the Chicago Bears into the ideal situation.
Carolina no doubt has some regrets about that trade. As it turns out, Poles almost ruined another team’soff-season a few months ago. The New York Giants have provided amazing access to their off-season through HBO’s Hard Knocks. According to their latest episode, the team was desperate to land LSU wide receiver Malik Nabers. They had to make contingency plans if he didn’t fall to them at #6. One was a deal they had worked out with Chicago. The Bears would get #6 and a 5th round pick, while New York got #9, a 3rd, and a 4th.
Here’s the fun part. The Giants believed they would be able to land their backup plan, Rome Odunze, at the 9th pick. Why? Poles made them think he’d be jumping in front of the Chargers for an offensive tackle. As we all know, that was never the case. Odunze was his target. That means the Giants would’ve missed out on all the top receivers because of a disastrous miscalculation. Lucky for them, Nabers was there.
Nobody saw the Bears targeting Wright with their 1st round pick last year. It was a big surprise when they took him. No one saw them coming when the Montez Sweat trade went down. Now, here is further proof that he played poker better than most, getting the Giants to think he had no interest in the player he wanted all along. Things ended up working out in his favor anyway. Odunze fell to #9 after New York took Nabers. Poles got his guy and didn’t have to give up anything to make it happen.
It isn’t yet clear how good the Bears will be this season. Winning in the NFL is hard. Still, nobody can argue Ryan Poles hasn’t done a great job at structuring the roster for this purpose. He utilized his resources wisely, maintained his vision, and always seemed one step ahead of his competition. It has been a long time since the organization had somebody like that running the show.
