5 Things I Learned from Ryan Poles’ NFL Combine Press Conference

It’s NFL combine week, and we have some comments from Ryan Poles to dig into from his press conference. He was naturally pretty tight-lipped on the quarterback situation and would not give too much away pertaining to what the Bears will do with the number one overall pick. However, there were certainly some hints and clues in there as to what they might do. And naturally, being a Bears fan, I’m going to speculate and read way too far into what Ryan Poles said and didn’t say. Here are the key takeaways that I had:

1.       Poles is working on a contract extension for Jaylon Johnson:

I know, I know. You thought I would immediately talk about the quarterback situation. I will get to that but wanted to touch on this first. Jaylon Johnson should be extended, deserves to be extended, and wants to be extended on the Chicago Bears. He is still young and was one of the, if not THE, top cornerbacks in the league last year. I expected Johnson to be franchise tagged, as many reports had been pointing out. However, Poles talked about his desire to extend Johnson before the franchise tag. Here is the full quote:

“Conversations are going well at this time. We feel like we've done a really good job coming to the table strong, showing the respect that he's due just in terms of his production through his career and really an emphasis on the turnovers that he created this past year. Our expectation is that's going to continue to go as he's with the Bears. When I say coming strong, that means cash flows are strong, guarantees are strong, the term is strong for him.”

This is a major positive for the Bears. Johnson is huge for this defense and deserves to be here. Plus, the Bears have plenty of cap space to spend. There is nothing wrong with extending your best player, especially when he’s one of the best in that position in the league.

2.       Poles wants to make a quarterback decision ASAP:

Now I’ll talk about the quarterback situation. Poles made it clear that no decision had been made yet but that he wants to make a decision as soon as possible. When asked about when he wanted a decision to be made, he said, “Tomorrow.” This was a little hyperbolic, but he did go on to explain that it would be fair to everyone to decide as soon as possible. Here’s how he followed up that statement:

“No, I would love to know as soon as possible. I would love to know, but I know that's not how the process works. Sure, before free agency would be good. Like I said, I'm also taking, if we were to do something with Justin, I want to do right by him and I know, again, living in that gray space, we would want to do something sooner rather than later. But just like I talk about with contracts, it takes two teams to figure that out, but at the same time, we're also trying to figure out the draft process as well. There's a lot of different things with different timelines going and that's what makes it a little difficult.”

Clearly Poles wants it to be done soon. I’ve always thought he was a big fan of Fields as a person, so I do genuinely believe him when he says he wants to do right by Justin. He doesn’t want Fields to be stuck in the unknown and believes he deserves to know. It sounds like he has been in contact with Fields as well, so that adds another layer.

3.       It seems Poles has made his quarterback decision:

Following up on that last point, I’m going to speculate what I think Ryan Poles will do at the quarterback position based on his press conference. I want to believe that he truly doesn’t know what he’s going to do, but I just don’t buy it. Poles is a very smart guy and a very smart GM. He’s probably had a plan in place since the end of the season. I believe his comments suggest they will try to trade Fields and draft a quarterback. In my opinion, if Poles was going to stick by Fields, then he wouldn’t make comments about even potentially trading Fields. I feel certain he would say, “Justin is our guy. We’re going to stick by him and try to surround him with as many weapons as possible.” Or something along those lines. I believe because of all of the smoke around what the Bears might or might not do, the Bears will draft a quarterback.

As I said, I think Poles is very good at his job. So, if we got to the draft and the plan has been the whole time to keep Fields and just try to get a huge haul from someone else, then I wouldn’t be surprised. It genuinely wouldn’t shock me if Fields has been told by Poles that he is the guy, told to act like he doesn’t know, and Poles has been leaking information to the media that is actually false to try to get an astronomical haul from another team. However, I don’t think that’s the case and that just seems too complicated to be true.

4.       Poles is not concerned about Williams’s desire to play in Chicago:

Ryan Poles was asked about the reports that came out about Caleb Williams not wanting to play in Chicago, and he brushed them aside as if they were nothing. To be honest, they probably are untrue anyways! Why would Williams not want to play in Chicago? He will have weapons on the offensive side and have a great defense to help him out his rookie year. Of course, I am biased, but it just wouldn’t make sense for him to not want to play in Chicago. Here’s the full quote:

“No, no, no concerns about that at all. I would love to know why if that was the case. Like I said, I think when you have a young quarterback, I’ve been around it, the infrastructure is important, and I think we’ve made really good process in terms of having a really good infrastructure for whoever were to come in or if Justin (Fields) were to stay here.”

Again, I don’t know why he wouldn’t want to play in Chicago. It’s a historic franchise, with a lot of cap space, great young talent mixed with solid experience, and a good coaching staff to help him grow. Plus, a great opportunity to draft wide receiver talent to surround him with.

5.       Poles would want organization changing return for the number 1 pick:

This is another reason why I think Poles will trade Fields and draft a quarterback at 1. I just don’t think he’s going to trade the number 1 pick because I don’t think any team will meet his asking price. He is not going to get fleeced. He knows how valuable the pick is this year with Caleb Williams at the top of the charts. He knows that if he were to trade that pick, he would get a mouth-watering amount in return. Here’s what he said about a potential trade of the number 1 pick:

              “It’s got to help our organization significantly to move around.”

It’s a brief quote, and he didn’t say much more about trading the pick other than his phone won’t stop ringing. It sounds like no one has made a genuine offer yet, but that they have been trying to feel out what Poles has in mind. They want to get a temperature on what he’s feeling, and it sounds like it’s hot. And to be fair, it should be! Caleb Williams has been deemed a generational talent by many scouts, and a generational talent at the most important position in sports is worth paying for.

There was a lot of smoke in Poles’ press conference. He didn’t speak too much into specifics nor did he specifically say his plan. However, I do believe he has a plan, and it is going to become much clearer after this week. And in my opinion, that plan is still to trade Fields, draft a quarterback at 1, and extend Jaylon Johnson. That brings a lot of excitement for Bears fans and the future of this great organization.