When Poles came in, the defense was aging and Roquan wanted out. The offensive line was a mess, and there wasn’t much to work with aside Mooney and Fields.
Here are some of his picks from 2022 that filled needs: Kyler Gordon, Brisker (both 2nd rounders), Braxton Jones (5th rounder), and Elijah Hicks (7th rounder)
None of these guys are stars, but they’re really good players considering where we got them. Im really happy with the Braxton Jones pick he plays solid when he’s in.
As for 2023: Darnell Wright (first rounder), Gervon Dexter (2nd rounder), Tyrique Stevenson (2nd rounder), Roschon (4th rounder), Terell Smith (5th rounder).
This is only to name a few. Wright has been great so far. Dexter had an amazing game on Monday and is benefiting from the Sweat trade. Stevenson broke out the Detroit game with a pick and a good special teams play. Roschon while not perfect showed capability as a blocker on Monday. Terell Smith did good for a 5th round corner on Monday.
Poles def has the team going in the right direction. He turned it around quicker than I expected the team to get turned around. He has made mistakes but so far both of his drafts look really good. If even argue both of his drafts are better than any draft Ryan Pace had in his 6 years.
Let me know your thoughts!
Claypool trade was horrendous. He also hired Flus and this coaching staff which has been a massive disappointment and basically wasted Fields time in Chicago. The jury is still out on Brisker and Gordon, he passed on some talented players to draft them and they haven’t quite proven it yet.
In my opinion Poles has done enough to get one more shot at coach and QB, but he hasn’t exactly been a world beater, either.
If he fires Flus, I’m even more on his side than I already was
I had faith in Poles. It’s fading with each passing week that Flus/Getsy remain.
I like the squad. Hate the coaching regime.
Roquan for Trumane. I think quan is a better overall player.
He selected eberflus as coach.
He didn’t prioritize the offense at all last year. We had the worst WRs in the league and a below average offensive line. That’s not how you support your second-year QB.
As an outside observer (eagles fan), I think Poles has made mistakes initially but has adjusted well. He’s building from the trenches first, instead of investing high resources in receivers or safeties like he was initially.
All of these will be moot if he can’t solve QB long term, IMO I think Fields could be the next Jalen Hurts with the right type of weapons around him but it’s reasonable to move on to Caleb Williams to reset the rookie qb clock
In my opinion, he’s done well enough where he should be able to see the situation he created through. I mean “situation he created” in good way. The Bears have never been so simultaneously loaded with money and draft capital. Not that i can remember, anyway.
Flus seems like a miss though. But if Pace can have two cracks at a HC, so can Poles.
I think poles is killing it but we gotta take advantage of this draft, like he did last time, except this time I think we do take the QB.
Those are his only two big whiffs imo. No one bats a thousand, think he’s done a great job, especially when you realize how bad the team was cap wise when he got hired
Pretending we had a center going into this season was also a whiff.
Traded Roquan because ILB isn’t where we should be spending our money with all the DL help we needed…then proceeded to spend all his free agency money on linebackers?
Not drafting an interior offensive lineman last year was a bit questionable
Venus pick gets overblown IMO. A 3rd round pick busting happens to every GM. Think it looks worse considering his age/lack of true receiving ability but taking a punt on a Cordarelle Patterson type player isn’t the dumbest thing ever. The 49ers, albeit towards the end of the 3rd round, have a wide receiver with one career catch in the NFL
I will always be a “Pickens should have been one of those second round pick” people. They wouldn’t have needed to drafted Velus or trade for Claypool.
We’d have had another 2nd to then use on say Porter Jr., who is better than Gordon. We could have used the Velus pick on any of the several decent OL men that were picked after him.
Moore, Pickens, Mooney would be great. Moore, Pickens, and potentially Harrison Jr would be insane.
He’s done well but he has lots of work to do.
I like Poles, but I’m still wondering why he hasn’t tried to acquire a legit Center, and was disappointed that he whiffed on a few in last year’s draft. I also don’t think he gets enough credit for spotting Terrell Smith so late in the draft.