Upgrading the Bears at Key Spots

Bears GM Ryan Poles points to three "premium positions," where the team can be expected to try and upgrade.

There have been no regrets from Bears GM Ryan Poles over the way he approached free agency last year.

As he has said, his hands were tied so he went the bargain-basement route in free agency before he drafted without a first-round pick.

"I thought we used the resources that we had to the best of our ability based on what was there," Poles said.

Times have changed. 

Now the resources are virtually unlimited by NFL standards, with the draft's first pick and $118 million under the salary cap according to Overthecap.com.

So the goal is simple after a 3-14 season, the most losses in franchise history.

"To get better," Poles said.

That means getting more talent to surround quarterback Justin Fields.

"I wish there was a perfect scenario where you could just clean up everything and get good," Poles said. "So I thought we made, solid, sound decisions to do that (in 2022). Yeah, I wish it was perfect across the board so it was clean as much as possible but it just doesn't always happen that way.

"But again now looking at where we can go currently, where we have flexibility to do a little bit little bit more, now the second piece is ... like, what talent's there for us to bring in that can help move the needle to help everybody get better."

The string of losses by a touchdown and conversion or less whetted the appetite for wins and the Bears never delivered another win after their trades of Robert Quinn and Roquan Smith.

Playmakers Wanted

Poles' aim is roster improvement.

"So some of those tight games I want to finish," Poles said. "I want to finish better. And bringing in some playmakers, more playmakers is going to allow us to do that. So the expectation is to take that next step."

It might sound strange coming from a GM with a franchise that has won only 12 of its last 44 games, one that had no money last year to attack with in free agency, but Poles is not talking about going "hog wild" with free agent spending.

"Obviously we have a lot more resources, so I'm excited to do that," he said. "But we've gotta stay sound in free agency.

"I know everyone's talking about how much money we have and we're just gonna go crazy. We're gonna be sound so that we get the right players in here and we get good value."

It's the same approach he wants in the draft.

"And attack the draft always keeping value in mind," he said. "That's gonna stay the same. It's not gonna change just because we have the No. 1 overall pick."

When Poles talks about adding playmakers in a wise way, he has some areas in mind. He's not putting his finger on one spot in particular, but a few do stand out.

The Premium Positions

"It's hard to identify that right now but I always go back to the premium positions," Poles said. "We're always going to look at pass rushers, we're going to look at offensive linemen, corners.

"So that's where we're always going to start and see can we play winning football with premium positions and then we move from there."

Pass rushers would seem like the top priority and that's plural.

The Bears could only hope to strike gold like the Detroit Lions did last year. They drafted two edge rushers who led the entire draft class in sacks, Aidan Hutchinson second overall with 9 1/2 sacks and James Houston at the bottom of Round 6 with eight sacks.

Considering the entire Bears defensive roster had only 2 1/2 more sacks than those two Lions edge rushers, it seems like a good place to start.

With defensive linemen Will Anderson Jr. and Jaylon Carter available at the top of the draft, it really looks like a good place to start the task.

"We actually go through with our staff and we'll rank those. But I always start with the premium positions and see, are we good enough in those? And then move from there," he said.

The personnel department starts ranking free agents in the next week much like they do with the draft later.

Having the first pick and the cap cash seems like a perfect storm—or a way to create pressure for the general manager. Fouling it up could be a real disaster for someone's career.

"I don't know if that necessarily creates pressure for me," Poles said. "I think I put pressure on myself and we put pressure on each other to be the absolute best.

"I think as we go, the plan is to sustain success so I think that's enough pressure. I don't know if it's the noise in all of that outside the building. I know that we want to be successful and that's kind of the pressure we put on ourself."

Added Poles about the fan/outside pressure: "I don't know if that really moves the needle for me."

It will be there nonetheless. The honeymoon of Year 1 in a rebuild has ended.

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