I hope Ryan Poles is enjoying himself to the fullest these days. He should be. Not because things will never be this good again for the Bears’ general manager — his goal is to win a Super Bowl someday, right? But life is pretty sweet for a guy whose team went 3-14 last season.
The Bears finished drafting a little more than a week ago, and if I have this correctly, it was the best draft in the history of drafts. To sum up: Poles got every player he wanted; first-round pick Darnell Wright will protect Justin Fields while also reducing the national debt; and the Bears won’t have to think much about Aaron Rodgers, whose move from the hated Packers to the Jets eventually will be seen as Poles’ doing.
I exaggerate. A little. Every front office has license to be optimistic after each draft, which is why every GM type sounds like the U.S. poet laureate when offering a round-by-round review of his draft-day decisions. Who knew a seventh-round pick could be worthy of such lofty verse? How did this strapping athlete in the bloom of youth escape the attention of the other 31 teams? It defies explanation.
But it wasn’t only the Bears who saw their draft as wonderful. USA Today gave the Bears’ draft an A, as did Bleacher Report and The Ringer. NFL Network thought the Bears deserved an A-. ESPN and Pro Football Focus each handed out a B+. The spoilsport New York Post saw Poles’ effort as a measly B-. I think the headline above the article was, “Bears’ Draft Day Sex Romp!”
Was Poles’ draft great? I don’t know. Neither do you. And neither do the Bears, not because they’re inept but because nobody knows how good a team’s draft is a week after the fact. But that hasn’t stopped people from having a coronation for the GM. He shouldn’t fight it. He should enjoy it. It’s rare that a decision-maker in Chicago sports is seen as something other than a scarecrow in search of a brain.
Replacing Ryan Pace as GM surely helped Poles’ standing among Bears fans. But the truth is that a broccoli stalk could have replaced Pace 16 months ago, and fans would have cheered. It helped that, seven weeks ago, Poles was smart enough to trade the No. 1 overall pick to the Panthers in return for more draft picks and wide receiver DJ Moore. And it helped that some of what Poles did before and during the draft was with Fields in mind. It doesn’t take a genius to know that future Bears success rests on Fields’ shoulders.
The nit from some corners was that the Bears didn’t find a pass rusher in the draft. Unless a pass rusher could catch passes from Fields, I’m not sure I see the problem. The Bears had so many holes, there really was no wrong answer during the draft.
So these are high times for Poles. It’s rare that you have the confluence of personal and public optimism over a team that was brutal the season before. Either everybody knows something or everybody is a collective idiot. I suppose there’s the possibility of some in-between here.
We still don’t know about Fields. That reality has sharp elbows. Just when you think the Bears might have things figured out, you get jabbed in the ribs by the question that won’t go away: Can he be an elite quarterback someday? Go ahead and add that to the list of things you, I and the Bears don’t definitively know.
Fields’ contract prospects are already a topic of discussion because the Bears eventually will have to address a deal. Contract debate is one of the NFL’s unofficial sports, along with the draft, the combine and commissioner Roger Goodell being overpaid. The Ravens finally reached contract terms with quarterback Lamar Jackson, who will make $185 million in guaranteed money. Is he worth it? Only if his body can withstand the punishment that comes with being a running quarterback. Fields isn’t nearly at Jackson’s level (yet?), but he has some of the same skills. When Jackson signed, the conversation naturally turned to what it might mean for Fields. I’ll join that discussion as long as part of the debate involves which body part Fields will lose first in a game, which is the debate about Jackson, too.
Ah, but that’s where Wright comes in. The Bears’ top pick is a 6-5, 333-pound offensive tackle from Tennessee. At that size, he should be able to stop pass rushers and tsunami waves. People seem smitten with him, especially Poles.
“This kid’s ability to win against really high-end players made us feel even more convicted about him,” he said.
The reverie is about to be interrupted by a cruel incursion from the North. Longtime Packers reporter Bob McGinn recently relayed an NFL scout’s opinion of Wright. A word of warning that what follows might be upsetting to people who wear blue-and-orange undergarments.
“The guy’s a starting left or right tackle,’’ the scout said. “Case closed. But when you dig into it, he’s never been much of a worker. Barely does enough to get by. Not super-cooperative. Hard work is not in his vocabulary. Just does enough . . .”
Sigh. How is Poles supposed to enjoy his coronation now?
