Ryan Poles discusses NFL Combine, free agency outlook |
INDIANAPOLIS, I.N. - The first NFL Combine since Ben Johnson became the head coach of the Chicago Bears is underway. Johnson and general manager Ryan Poles are in Indianapolis for the combine.
Currently sitting with eight picks in the draft with three of them in the first 45 selections, Poles and Johnson will have a lot of evaluating to do. Luckily, the two are already on the same page about how to work toward improving the Bears for next season. With their clear vision, Poles believes Chicago can be more aggressive in free agency. “We’re constantly talking about how we need to go about improving our football team and adding to our football team. So, those conversations will be happening almost on a daily basis, which is important in any relationship between a front office and a coaching staff, specifically a GM and a head coach,” Poles said. “The clearer the vision, the more aggressive you can be and that’s important. So, you want to be selective in free agency because historically, if you look at it, it can tell you and you can learn from that. But, if there’s certain players that kind of hit all the checkboxes that you need, there’s really no reason to hold back. I feel like you can be aggressive in those situations.” This year’s NFL Draft has a lot of depth at offensive and defensive line, two of Chicago’s top priorities this offseason. However, there are also some appealing options on both sides of the line through free agency and trades. As the Bears continue to explore the options in free agency and the draft, Poles believes Chicago possesses a strong group of evaluators to analyze the talent potential of all available options. “Free agency comes first. There’s a lot of unknowns in the draft in terms of who’s going to be there for you … You can have philosophical beliefs (in) how you build a football team, how you prioritize. But, the supply has to match the needs and those opportunities have to present themselves at the right time. So, we’re starting to put that puzzle (together). But, what I like about really the pairing so far with free agency and the draft is I do believe that the supply of players are matching our needs. So, there’s going to be good evaluations,” Poles said. “Our coaches have dug into free agency a lot since they’ve gotten on board. But, we have a lot more work to do on the draft when we get back. So, I got to see how we get aligned on that. The one other thing too is just looking at the work that our coaches have done on free agency, we have a group of really good evaluators on the coaching staff too which is really important.” Throughout his tenure as general manager, Poles has been clear about his appreciation for using analytics in player acquisition. So far, that has not yielded too much success for the Bears as some of their acquisitions in the past few years have not worked out too well, such as wide receiver Chase Claypool. During this offseason, Poles will continue to use analytics to help Chicago make optimal player acquisitions and gauge the research that needs to be done into a player. “We want to use the data and analytics to help drive good decision-making. You look for where it lines up and you feel really convicted about making decisions,” Poles said. “If it’s not lined up, it just forces you to do more research to get to a point that you feel comfortable with the direction that you’re going.” NFL Network’s coverage of the NFL Combine starts on Thurs. Feb. 26 with defensive linemen and linebackers (3 p.m.). Offensive linemen will not participate in the combine until Sun. March 2 (1 p.m. / NFL Network).
