Bear Digest

Bears GM Ryan Poles Adds Another Victory Lap to the Stack for 2025

Another grading of the Bears' rookie class turned up high marks for the job done by the Chicago GM, the fourth straight year his selections have been labeled rookie successes.
Gene Chamberlain|
If Bears GM Ryan Poles wants to trade away a player in this draft, the best option might be in the backfield says PFF.
If Bears GM Ryan Poles wants to trade away a player in this draft, the best option might be in the backfield says PFF. | Photo: Chicago Bears video

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For the better part of three years, Bears GM Ryan Poles had been a target on social media for Bears fans more than the subject for praise.

Finally, with the pairing of coach Ben Johnson and Poles at the top of the Bears' ticket so to speak, the Bears are getting a little more respect league-wide for their ability to assess drafts. Maybe Poles deserves even more respect than he had been getting.

CBS Sports' Josh Edwards did the website's annual grading of rookie draft classes and the first class chosen by Poles with Johnson providing input was ranked third in the NFL. Of course, tight end Colston Loveland was the headliner.

"Chicago brought Loveland along slowly but his potential was evident by season's end," Edwards wrote. "It would not be a surprise is Loveland added All-Pro recognition to his mantle at some point in his career.

Edwards did note the contributions of Luther Burden III, Kyle Monangai, and Ozzy Trapilo, as well. Maybe the only thing holding the class from taking first was the assistance from defensive rookies. As Edwards notes, they had 105 total plays.

While Johnson's addition as head coach and as an advisor for Poles in the selection of personnel has been big, it could be Poles himself deserves far more credit than he received prior to Johnson's hiring.

The same website had graded rookie classes in the past and  since Poles became GM they had scored Bears rookie classes no worst than 17th. The worst class was the one with their most impactful player, QB Caleb Williams in 2024.

That class looks a little more successful than the original grade at this point with Williams, Rome Odunze and Austin Booker among the first five rounds and punter Tory Taylor setting team punting average records each of his first two Bears years.

The CBS assessment had ranked the Poles 2022 class 12th overall and the 2023 class with Darnell Wright  at the top as No. 6 overall in assessments made right after those seasons.

With a sixth, 12th and a 17th for three draft classes prior to getting Johnson's help with this class, Poles comes off looking like a much better judge of young talent than earlier assessments said. Add in the Johnson effect for this year and it's little wonder the Bears are getting mentioned more and more as a possible Super Bowl contender in 2026.

The challenge becomes tougher when you're no longer picking near the top. The Bears will find a much different caliber of player now at No. 25 in Round 1 than in the top 10, where they picked the last three drafts.

“You just have more constraints," Poles said after the season. "More constraints, but at the same time, I don't think the process changes."

The constraints included his assistant GM Ian Cunningham now in Atlanta operating at whatever the role is they're calling it. It still doesn't change their approach when scouts resume looking at players, which they'll do Feb. 23 at the combine.

"We know what they look like, we know how they act, know how they talk and we'll continue to do that," Poles said. "I think that's part of the thing, one, can you self-evaluate and be critical of yourself and your team to make sure that you know what you have in the building? And then can you keep pounding away and stick into your process?

"You make tweaks of course, but stick to the process of bringing in the right types of people and it usually works out for you."

The idea from Day 1 was to build a team that wins consistently and this season will mark the first chance to prove they can actually do it. Another draft class like the recent ones will go a long way toward this.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.