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Ryan Poles Dodging Possible Free Agency Busts Can Be a Bears Success

The defensive line hasn't been a place where the Chicago Bears GM excelled in the draft or free agency but at least he didn't sign one NFL analyst's forecasted edge busts.
Gene Chamberlain|
Austin Booker rates as Ryan Poles' biggest draft success story to date on the Bears' defensive line.
Austin Booker rates as Ryan Poles' biggest draft success story to date on the Bears' defensive line. | Matt Marton-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

Bears GM Ryan Poles rarely gets credit for anything when it comes to signing free agents, particularly on the defensive line.

Last year's acquisitions of Dayo Odeyingbo and Grady Jarrett weigh heavily upon the salary cap without much production, and there have been others like this in the past. Among the most productive were defensive tackles Andrew Billings and Chris Williams. The Bears didn't seek to bring Billings back before he signed with Arizona for one season. Williams was tendered in 2025 as a restricted free agent but signed with Atlanta last week on a one-year, $2 million deal.

Poles' free agency signings of backup defensive tackles Kentavius Street and Neville Gallimore last week haven't exactly captured the imagination of Bears nation.

Poles should get credit for one thing, at least he deserves it if you agree with the talent assessments of Sports Illustrated's Matt Verderame. That is, Poles avoided another free agency defensive line bust like Odeyingbo has been so far.

Naming defensive line busts

Verderame put out his list of the five most likely busts in free agency and three of them are free agent defensive ends  Poles could have pursued but didn't all while being urged on social media to do so by the team's followers.

The three likely edge rusher busts he named are Trey Hendrickson, Bradley Chubb, and Jaelan Phillips. The Bears never really got close to getting Raiders edge rusher Maxx Crosby and each of these edge players had merit as alternatives, but not in Verderame's eyes.

Verderame points out how the Ravens threw a four-year, $112  million deal at the 31-year-old former Bengals edge rusher. He labels this risky due to age and injury history, despite consecutive 17 1/2-sack seasons in 2023-24.

Chubb is in the over-30 club and his three-year, $43.5 million deal with Buffalo is regarded as a gamble due to his injury history and age (30), as well.

The most likely bust on his list is Panthers acquisition Jaelan Phillips at four years, $120 million. While everyone seemed to rave about Phillips, Verderame reminds all about an Achilles tendon tear and ACL tear in consecutive years. He also had a concussion last year against the Bears. And then there is the simple fact Phillips has never had more than 8 1/2 sacks in a single season. 

The most telling stat he points out is Phillips hasn't gone over 25 quarterback hits for his career yet, and nine players had more than that total for the 2025 season alone.

The shining Bears light

The Bears' answer on the edge will need to be the draft this year, and also what looks like possibly Poles' greatest defensive line draft success to date, Austin Booker. It's difficult to say what Booker’s numbers might have been in Year 2 if he hadn't missed the first seven games on injured reserve. The 2024 fifth-round pick quickly made up for it with 5 1/2 sacks and 20 pressures through the playoffs.

Projected at that rate for a full season, he would have had 8 1/2 sacks and 28 pressures.

The last drafted edge player the Bears had with comparable numbers to Booker was Trevis Gipson in 2020, with 10 sacks and 35 pressures in his first two seasons.  The Matt Eberflus-Poles regime decided Gipson wasn't the right fit to play edge in their 4-3 scheme, so they cut him. He has had three sacks and 10 pressures total for three teams since leaving Chicago.

Apparently, Booker will be the starter going forward on the side opposite Montez Sweat, and they'll likely add an edge pick somewhere in the draft to compete and be a third member for the rotation as they hope to avoid busts like Verderame sees ahead with three very expensive veteran edge players.

Giving someone credit for dodging trouble isn't quite like praising them for finding real talent, but if more picks like Booker follow on the defensive line then past draft flops like Robinson or free agency disappointments like DeMarcus Walker will be easier to forget.

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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.

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