When Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles met with the media last month at the NFL scouting combine, he stressed that one way to elevate quarterback Justin Fields’ play in his second season is to provide him with playmakers.
Fast forward to the annual NFL meetings this week at The Breakers Palm Beach — two weeks into free agency — and Poles still has work to do in that regard.
Wide receiver Darnell Mooney will be back for his third season with the Bears. But their next four wide receivers by catch from 2021 went on to free agency, including Allen Robinson to the Los Angeles Rams and Jakeem Grant to the Cleveland Browns.
Poles gave a one-year, $6 million deal to Kansas City Chiefs wide receiver Byron Pringle, a 6-foot-1, 201-pound option with upside but not big career numbers. And Equanimeous St. Brown came on board as a depth piece.
Poles said Monday that he will continue to monitor free-agent possibilities but said he “would love” to address the need on Day 2 of the April 28-30 draft — when the Bears have picks at Nos. 39 and 48 in the second round and 71 in the third round. And with a deep wide receivers class, he thinks there’s a chance to get a good player there.
“It’s funny because there’s a lot of panic of like, ‘You need receivers,’ ” Poles said. “I think Davante (Adams) was taken in the second, right? So there’s talent there. It’s not always going to be like that. I get it. And we’re going to be patient. If it’s not there, we’re not going to do it and force it either. This class is pretty deep, so I feel comfortable.”
Poles also is intrigued about what the Bears can get from Pringle, whom he got to know over Pringle’s four seasons in Kansas City.
After 12- and 13-catch seasons with the Chiefs in 2019 and 2020, Pringle had a career-high 42 catches for 568 yards and five touchdowns last season while playing on a team that had Tyreek Hills, Travis Kelce and Mecole Hardman as Patrick Mahomes’ first options.
In the former undrafted free agent, Poles sees a player eager to show he can do more.
“I know what he was behind in Kansas City, and I know every time his number was called he was productive and he was dependable and he’s tough,” Poles said. “Adding that element of a big target on the other side of Mooney and giving that to (offensive coordinator Luke Getsy) and his staff, I feel really comfortable about that. When I say chip on the shoulder, he’s dying to prove that he can show that he can play in this league, and those are the types of players that we want, so I’m looking forward to his production.”
At the AFC coaches breakfast Monday, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said the Bears are getting an “unbelievable person” and continued his plug to “get him that potato chip contract” after Pringle partnered with Pringles last season.
“He’ll play his heart out,” Reid said. “And he has gotten better every year as a player. And he’s sitting there at (28) years old and still will continue to grow because he works so hard.”
Poles previously said he was impressed with Mooney’s hunger to get better, and he naturally was pleased to see Instagram posts of Mooney working with Fields in Atlanta this month.
Poles said he believes one of the factors important to Fields’ development is “continuity with his receivers,” which he said might have been thrown off by the way the former Bears staff structured training camp and the beginning of last year with Andy Dalton working as the starter.
Poles already had conversations with Mooney and tight end Cole Kmet about needing to put in the work with Fields.
“The guys that I’ve worked with in the past, they worked through the summer,” Poles said. “They had that relationship where there’s balls being thrown before someone like Kelce came out of his break. How did you know that’s where he was going to go? It’s just from all the reps that you take with each other. So they’re already taking that step.”
Poles also believes new coaches and a better scheme will help Fields take the next step in his development.
But he clearly understands that people are eager to see what other pieces of support the Bears can give Fields. That, he said, is going to require some patience as he addresses changes throughout the Bears roster.
“Especially coming from where I just came from, I want to give him everything I possibly can, but you still have to construct an entire team,” he said. “You can’t go blank in one area and then just load up in one area. … So we’re always going to be aggressive to get him the tools he needs to be successful. It’s just the timing, and the talent level and the cap situation, all of those are going to dictate when we can go and when we can’t go. But what we’ve done so far is at least establish a little bit of growth in the roster, plus the scheme, with the coaching, I see him getting better even from what we did right now.”
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