Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles shied away from using the word “rebuild” Tuesday, noting the term can be “super sensitive” when it comes to evaluating teams’ paths forward.
His work in his first few months on the job, he said, is more like a remodeling project on an HGTV show he might catch late at night with his wife.
“You might have to redo some countertops over here, some fresh paint over there,” Poles said during his draft-week news conference at Halas Hall. “Some rooms are good. You don’t need to touch them. So that’s kind of the thought process there. That’s not a rebuild either.”
So far, the most striking progress in Poles’ renovation of a Bears roster that hasn’t had a winning season since 2018 has been ripping out key veterans.
He traded Khalil Mack and let go of Allen Robinson, Eddie Goldman, Danny Trevathan, Akiem Hicks and Tarik Cohen. Then he spent modestly in free agency on center Lucas Patrick, defensive tackle Justin Jones and defensive end Al-Quadin Muhammad, among others.
But Poles will have a chance to brighten more than one position room at Halas Hall as he and his staff enter their first NFL draft together with the Bears. That starts Friday with the Nos. 39 and 48 picks in the second round and No. 71 in the third round.
Poles has been in draft rooms before during 13 seasons with the Kansas City Chiefs, but this will be different.
“The responsibility of making the pick, yeah, it’s bigger,” he said. “But at the same time, you just rely on the work that everyone put in to make the right decision. And that was the cool thing about doing a lot of these mock-up drafts. We feel comfortable with the way that this thing is going to play out.”
As Poles prepared over the last several weeks for his first draft as GM, he remembered the late Don Horton, his Boston College offensive line coach.
Horton would drill his linemen over and over on blitz cards so that when they reached game day, they recognized defensive fronts and communicated smoothly.
Poles got his staff ready for the big weekend by drilling them with draft simulations, complete with fake trade calls.
“Just to test our communication, test our trade charts, test all of that to make sure that everything’s smooth on game day and we’re just applying that,” he said. “And I feel really confident at this point.”
The Bears don’t have a first-round pick Thursday because former GM Ryan Pace traded it to move up to draft quarterback Justin Fields last year. For those hoping Poles will make a surprise move up, it should be noted he instead spoke more than once of moving back to add to the Bears’ six picks.
So Poles and his staff will spend Thursday night running more simulations, pretending they are picking at No. 10 or 20 to see how their system plays out before Friday.
“Just act like we’re in different spots and rep out communication to make sure when we go the next day that we’re ready,” Poles said.
Poles brought his scouting staff into Halas Hall for 12 days at the beginning of April.
He ran anonymous polls on staff members’ cellphones to determine how they stacked players at different positions and then overall, displaying the group results on a screen to discuss. Sometimes the runaway vote was for one player. Occasionally it led to diving deeper into tape.
“Sometimes you just want to remove groupthink,” Poles said. “If I polled everyone and you had to raise your hand, sometimes you look around (at other people). It just removes that and everyone puts their thoughts and ideas down.”
With that work done, Poles said the actual draft days are usually a little calmer and quieter than people might think because “pretty much the hay is in the barn.”
As most GMs do on draft week, Poles left it open to interpretation when it comes to which positions he will target. The Bears have obvious needs at wide receiver, offensive line and cornerback, but when asked specifically about providing offensive help for Fields, he said “anytime you just improve the team overall, you’re helping all of the players out.”
When asked if he will address the need for a specific type of receiver, he said it depends on whether such a player is available at the right value on the draft board.
“The biggest takeaway is you can talk yourself into anything at this point,” he said. “That’s why I’m not overcooking this board. I’m taking a step back after today because I think sometimes you keep staring at it and you keep sliding guys around and doing crazy stuff.”
And “crazy stuff” might not help Poles finish his remodeling project on schedule.
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