Bears Ryan Poles made it clear he’s prepared to do whatever it takes to fix the team’s biggest need going into free agency
The Chicago Bears are set to enter into a new era in 2025 with general manager Ryan Poles and new head coach Ben Johnson leading the way, and these two have a lot of work to do starting this offseason to turn the team around.
The needs could not be more clear after watching a promising team struggle so heavily throughout the entire 2024 season.
Now, the Bears are armed with a stockpile of resources to bring in the level of talent needed to take the team where they hope to go.
The sense of urgency is there for Poles and this team, and it certainly sounds like this will be an aggressive team in the coming weeks.
“I think we can be aggressive in the way that we approach this offseason and get players in here that can help us take it to the next level,” Poles said while speaking with reporters at the 2025 NFL Combine.
That aggressiveness needs to start with properly overhauling the offensive line, something Poles has failed to continuously achieve since being named general manager in 2022.
The process of structuring the offensive line was always filled with half-measure additions made either through free agent signings, trades, or draft selections. This time around, Poles seemed to indicate to Gregg Rosenthal that making those half-measures won’t be the issue.
The free agent market is loaded with young, talented offensive lineman the Bears can explore bringing in to revamp the position group. The top player linked to the Bears has been Kansas City Chiefs right guard Trey Smith.
Smith is expected to have a strong market, and potentially become the highest-paid guard, this offseason. The Chiefs are going to try their best to bring him back, but the Bears should absolutely be willing to spend big if he hits the market.
There’s already tons of connections already in Chicago too. Smith played two years at Tennessee next to right tackle Darnell Wright and has a close relationship with running backs coach Eric Bienemy. Oh yeah, and Poles was in the Chiefs’ front office when Smith was selected in 2021. However, when asked about the possibility of adding Smith on Tuesday, Poles smartly dodged the question in the best way.
“I’m not going to get into players who aren’t on our roster right now,” Poles added. “But I’m proud to be a part of that draft process.”
While Smith is the big fish on the Bears’ potential board, there’s other top free agent offensive linemen worth spending big on. Centers such as Drew Dalman or Evan Brown would be major upgrades over Coleman Shelton with players such as Brandon Scherff or Kevin Zeitler being other options at guard.
Either way, there’s top talent out there for the Bears to reel in. And this time it seems like Poles is willing to utilize some serious cash to make it happen.
