Former Exec Even More Certain What Ryan Poles Will Do After Eberflus News

NFL Network dropped the news that Matt Eberflus is expected to return, barring a complete meltdown in the final two games. He's created a lot of positive vibe at Halas Hall, overcoming a horrific start and many controversies to get the team on a winning track over the past two months. It hasn't been pretty, but the progress is hard to ignore. This decision seems to have started the ball rolling on what comes next at the quarterback position. GM Ryan Poles must determine if Justin Fields also gets another year or if he wants to use that #1 pick on a replacement.

Former Bears scouting director Greg Gabriel stated a few weeks ago that he believes the Bears GM will ultimately choose to trade the #1 pick for another massive haul, sticking with Fields for another year. He reiterated that stance with even greater confidence on X (Twitter) after the Eberflus news came out.

While there is no way the final decision is made yet, Gabriel seems relatively certain this is the conclusion Poles will reach. Part of it is Eberflus' return and Fields' steady improvement, but apparently, some of it may come from troubling evaluations of the incoming draft class.

Ryan Poles has proven to be a tough evaluator on QBs.

He willingly passed on Bryce Young, C.J. Stroud, Will Levis, and others in the 2023 draft. Some will say that's an indication he can't recognize QB talent. However, it's important to remember Poles' standards for the position. He was a big part of the group that led the Kansas City Chiefs to select Patrick Mahomes in 2017, the best quarterback in the sport at present. Also, he was Matt Ryan's teammate at Boston College. Both men will likely end up in the Hall of Fame at some point in the future.

Those are his standards. He understands what made those two great and what to look for. He didn't see it this year. From what Gabriel is hinting at, it sounds like there might not be anybody of that caliber in the 2024 class either, despite the ongoing media hype. Rather than take a quarterback for the sake of taking one, his preferred course of action might be keeping Fields and focusing his draft efforts at other positions, hoping to fortify an ascending roster with more blue-chip talent.

It's an approach that has worked well for teams like San Francisco, Philadelphia, and Dallas. What is best for the Bears? That is what Ryan Poles is focused on.