Why the Bears Pursued Linebackers First

At least to some extent, Bears GM Ryan Poles on Thursday cleared up a few lingering issues from the start of free agency.

Like, what is he going to do with guard Anthony Davis when the Bears already have more guards than they need and why he decided he had to sign linebackers first while in need of defensive line help.

Poles remains value-driven and plan-driven when it comes to building his roster and won't be swayed by big-ticket free agency items that don't fit exactly what the team is looking for in a player at a particular position.

Linebackers T.J. Edwards and Tremaine Edmunds, in particular, fit this approach as he decided to pursue and sign two high-level free agent linebackers a year after they struggled at this position following the trade of Roquan Smith.

"Yeah, it's value," Poles said. "When you look at the board, we felt like those two players were at the top of their positions. We felt like the skill-set was gonna help our team. And we decided to go there. It made sense.

"With everyone we kind of—I've talked about this a few times—we put them in values and you put 'em on a board. I think you can get in trouble if you go heavy with the biggest need and you fire away there and you let really good players walk away because you’re too stuck on where you need to get players. These guys are really good and at the top of their position."

One of the less transparent situations remaining after Bears signings was on the offensive line, in a few places. Poles never got into the pursuit of tackle Orlando Brown Jr., who eventually went at a bargain rate of $16 million a year to the Bengals.

"Yeah I'm not going to get into the specific player," Poles said, then added, "but the scheme match is a big deal there."

Brown is 350-360 pounds and not exactly a highly mobile tackle in run blocking. The Bears run a wide zone scheme requiring all linemen to get out of their stance and pull down the line to block repeatedly in games.

Poles signed guard Nate Davis from the Tennessee Titans when he seemingly has too many guards and not enough tackles.

"It's going to be competitive," he said of the line. "We've been in communication with a lot of them and we're going to make that competition. But I think we feel comfortable with the group that's there that we're going to figure out the best interior group."

Cody Whitehair made the Pro Bowl at center in 2018 and hasn't played there since then, but it sounds like he's going back to the spot to open up one guard position.

"I'll stick to this, we're going to put the best front five up there but I also think there's some flexibility and some conversations where Cody could work some center," Poles said. "He's got almost 4,000 snaps there. Had some good seasons there.

"So we're going to move it around a little bit and see if we can get the best like front three possible."

Almost as perplexing was the fit with defensive lineman DeMarcus Walker. He showed pass rush skills last year in a different type of scheme. He won't be wed to one spot with the Bears.

"DeMarcus Wallker adds a big, tough, violent, heavy-handed guy that can play defensive end and kick inside and rush, too, so we're pumped about that," Poles said.

The edge rusher can be a three technique if needed there, but the Bears remain shorthanded on the defensive line.

The draft beckons.

"There might be some things we can do to maybe move around," he said. "This draft, with the numbers that we counted right now, we gotta get some of the physicals, there's a lot of work to be done still. But there's going to be good players in that (second-round ) range as well.

"So as you know from the first draft with me, we did a lot of movement back, but maybe there's some movement back and then going the other way too."

BearDigest@BearsOnMaven