Drama-free summer would be ideal for Bears, GM Ryan Poles after last year

The best offseasons are the quiet ones, and Bears general manager Ryan Poles would love to see what that’s like.

A drama-free summer would be ideal as the team heads into a season with legitimate expectations and none of the wink-wink leeway Poles got as he demolished the roster in the first phase of his rebuild. He has had two drafts and free-agency periods, traded for a couple of receivers and taken ownership at quarterback by committing to Justin Fields.

Real standards will apply. No one will tolerate anything close to another 3-14 season in the name of cleaning up the mess Ryan Pace left behind. That was a one-time allowance.

With that on the horizon, snags like the ones the Bears hit leading up to last season will be far more costly. What difference did it really make that Roquan Smith missed weeks of training camp because of a contract dispute ahead of a season that was going nowhere? It’ll hit harder if it happens again.

The biggest items on Poles’ summer to-do list are seamlessly resolving contract situations of players in line for extensions.

That starts with cornerback Jaylon Johnson, who reported for voluntary organized team activities last week without a long-term deal and tried to calm concerns by emphasizing that he’s a different personality than Smith, saying, “100% I look forward to staying and extending with the Bears.”

Poles said of Johnson in April, “I hope he’s a guy we get to keep here for a while.” So it should be simple, right? It rarely is.

But there’s more pressure on the Bears to get this done than there was with Smith, whom they similarly praised but clearly believed was replaceable. They can’t let a 24-year-old cornerback of Johnson’s caliber leave the building, and it’s imperative that his deal is finished by the start of camp.

The other three players aren’t so clear-cut, and they don’t have Johnson’s leverage.

Poles already has said he’ll need to see more from wide receiver Chase Claypool, so there isn’t much to discuss there. The bigger issue for the Bears is redirecting Claypool’s trajectory so he gets to a point where they’d want to extend him.

Both sides envisioned a long-term relationship when Poles dealt a second-round pick (No. 32 overall, ultimately) to the Steelers for Claypool in November. But Claypool managed just 14 catches in seven games, and he has missed offseason practices with injuries.

Wide receiver Darnell Mooney should be a relatively easy deal once the Bears are convinced he has fully recovered from the ankle injury that ended his season. He’s one of Poles’ favorite players he inherited from Pace and had a 1,000-yard season in 2021.

The Bears are banking on DJ Moore to headline their passing attack with Fields, but Mooney is an important piece behind him. And the upside is Poles might save a little money because of the injury and Mooney having a down season with 40 catches, 493 yards and two touchdowns as the offense spiraled.

Figuring out what to do with tight end Cole Kmet is the most complicated situation. The Bears are heading into their fourth season of deciding whether he can be a top-tier weapon at his position. Poles came from the Chiefs, who have four-time All-Pro Travis Kelce, so his standards are high.

Kmet caught 50 passes for 544 yards and seven touchdowns, leading the Bears in each category. Those numbers ranked 15th, 13th and third, respectively, among NFL tight ends. Kmet has climbed throughout his three seasons, but Poles has to assess whether he’ll continue to do so because that’s still not quite enough production.

That’s a weighty list of decisions for Poles, though none are nearly as combustible as what he encountered last year. They don’t have to be, anyway. That’s up to him.