PALM BEACH, Fla. – After bolstering the roster via free agency and the trade market, Ryan Poles' focus on the NFL Draft is intensifying.
The Bears general manager recently attended college Pro Days at Texas and Ohio State and will soon return to Chicago from the NFL owners meetings in Florida to continue formulating the team's plans for the April 24-26 draft.
"I feel like we're in a really good place," Poles said Tuesday in Palm Beach. "Was really happy on how free agency went. Was able to really attack some needs that our roster had to have to compete and be a good football team.
"I've been happy about that process and thankful for the staff and the work from the coaches to execute at a high level, both with the trades and with free agency. And then really been excited about the work that we've done preparing for the draft. We're about to go down the home stretch. Scouts are going to come into town and really start to nail down the board."
The Bears added several key veterans in March. They rebuilt their interior offensive line by trading for left guard Joe Thuney and right guard Jonah Jackson and signing center Drew Dalman. They also upgraded their defensive line by inking tackle Grady Jarrett and end Dayo Odeyingbo and added receivers/return specialists Olamide Zaccheaus and Devin Duvernay.
The Bears have a unique opportunity to supplement that infusion of talent in the draft, holding four of the top 72 picks: No. 10 in the first round, Nos. 39 and 41 in the second and No. 72 in the third. The Bears have selected four players in the first 72 slots in just one draft since 2002.
"That's why I'm excited to get back and get working on that part of it," Poles said. "Because once we clean up the board based on some things that have happened in pro days, when we got injury reports back from the Combine … now we can start piecing that together to kind of see, 'What is the collection of guys that we can get in that space and how can they impact our football team?'"
Poles reiterated that the needs the Bears filled in March will provide flexibility in the draft.
"The beautiful thing of what we did in free agency—we talked about this a few weeks ago—is I really believe that we can look at the draft as a situation where you take best available, which is really important," he said.
"I think it's really important for this draft, too, because just the way it is, the top 'blues,' [are] condensed pretty small early in [Round] 1, and then there's a wide range of really good starter level of players that are going to range from probably single digits all the way into 50, 60, 70. Really trying to pair where the depth is and where you can get certain guys and, like I said, the collection of those guys, I think are going to be important in terms of moving the needle for us."
Poles has enjoyed going through the draft process with first-year coach Ben Johnson and his assistants.
"We've taken some good trips with the coaching staff," Poles said. "We went down to Austin, we went to Columbus and had a good time meeting with the players, digging a little bit deeper, getting them on the board, understanding what they know, what they might struggle with, and just have better perspective on the guys that we're going to be looking at in the draft.
"Again, thankful for the work that everybody's done in that process. This coaching staff has been outstanding with their evaluations, the volume of evaluations that they've done, and really been impressed by their ability to evaluate as well."
Poles feels that he and Johnson see things similarly on the offensive side of the ball.
"That's probably one of the cool parts of our relationship right now," said the Bears GM. "He has a creative mind on how he can use players, so when we're watching and there's guys that can do a lot of different things, it's kind of how I think too, is, 'How can we put the opposing defense in a bind trying to figure out what we're trying to do?' That's what makes me feel really good about Ben, too, because I felt that playing against him."
Poles also understands exactly what type of players defensive coordinator Dennis Allen is seeking.
"He wants a very aggressive attacking defense, especially the defensive line, attacking the man in front of you, not so much playing laterally, two-gaping, or even penetrating in gaps," Poles said. "It's really just attacking the offensive lineman in front of you and creating disruption in the run game and also to bubble back into the quarterback's feet to make it uncomfortable, too.
"That mentality is definitely going to be there. That's something we'll get done and we have a lot and we've done it in free agency as well. Speed, speed, speed is another emphasis, both because of man coverage but also just being able to get to the ball as fast as possible."
