Bear Digest

Why Ryan Poles anticipates best version of all new Chicago Bears

Recent injuries affected three of the Bears' acquisitions but GM Ryan Poles has good reason to expect all will be full strength and better than last year.
Gene Chamberlain|
Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles on Bears process.mp4
Ben Johnson and Ryan Poles on Bears process.mp4

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Chicago Bears

Injuries take players' seasons down undesired paths and it happened with three of the Bears' most recent additions.

It's part of the reason why Jonah Jackson and Grady Jarrett might not have even been the players last year that Bears GM Ryan Poles brought to Chicago this year.

The Bears think they have improved versions of those players and probably there's no debate about center Drew Dalman.

Dalman missed eight games last year with an ankle injury, but said he returned and finished the season, a year after he had three games missed due to an ankle injury. So his injury past should be irrelevant.

In Jarrett' case, he should be drastically improved. Players coming off a torn ACL can play inside of a year removed from surgery but by Year 2 should be drastically improved. His injury occurred after eight games of 2023.

"I think I'm always getting stronger, man," Jarrett said. "Definitely was a challenge."

"A lot of things that you have to do extra when you do come back as fast as I did from an ACL. But it's some things that, you know, behind the scenes you just got to extra like squat stuff or like extra treatment stuff. Take a little more time."

Jarrett confirmed his expectations are being 100% now.

"But I think like I said, I've heard that too as far as the second year coming back, so my second year coming back from it, here now, we about to see how it goes and I'm feeling good," Jarrett said. "I'm feeling encouraged and I'm happy to be back here with strength and be able to give it my all."

The lost year in L.A. after Jackson left the Lions as a free agent has no bearing now on his situation, in his opinion.

"Just started up a little bit choppy," was how GM Ryan Poles labeled his season.

Jackson hasn't played a full season since his rookie year of 2020. He was coming off a 2023 meniscus tear in postseason play that sidelined him for the Lions' NFC championship game against San Francisco. Recovering from it kept him from being 100% for offseason work. Then he had a shoulder injury that sidelined him for a big part of training camp and he aggravated it in the season during Week 2.

"It was just in a third down drill," he said. "My arm got caught up a little bit and it just happened. 

Even worse, he forced to change positions to center at the last second for the start of the season without really preparing for it.

"Once the bone healed and I got to practice I felt like myself again," Jackson said.

He didn't get the center job back and never played after getting in three games until the season finale.

"Granted, I didn’t play the position I usually play," Jackson said. "But things happen. I’m fortunate enough those things happened because I couldn’t ask for a better situation to be here with guys who trust and believe in me at a place I’m familiar with.

"I feel like my best ball is played in the cold, in the Midwest. So I’m glad to be back."

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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.