More Confirmation Of What Ryan Poles Has Planned For Free Agency

GM Ryan Poles and head coach Ben Johnson haven't stuck to the typical Chicago Bears playbook, which is to basically steer away from anything remotely plausible this team could do in free agency or the draft. Deny, deny, deny. Instead, they have been rather up front and honest about the situation. This team needs offensive line help. People aren't stupid. They watch the games, too. It was beyond evident the protection was bad last season, even if quarterback Caleb Williams gets a ton of heat for holding the ball too long.

Based on updates from multiple Bears insiders, their plan of action in free agency is clear: targeting the interior offensive line. Count Jeff Hughes of Da Bears Blog among them. The man who had the Johnson hire ahead of anybody didn't mince words. The goal is simple from Poles' perspective. He wants to use free agency to shore up the interior offensive line so he will have more flexibility going into the 1st round of the draft.

Ryan Poles appears to be mirroring a blueprint he's seen before.

That came in 2021 with the Kansas City Chiefs. They too had severe offensive line issues that were exposed in the Super Bowl. So, in the subsequent off-season, they were aggressive in their efforts to fix it. That involved a major free agency signing (Joe Thuney), a bold trade acquisition (Orlando Brown Jr.), and finally their first pick of that draft (Creed Humphrey). They also got lucky with 6th round pick Trey Smith. The results were immediate. Patrick Mahomes had far steadier protection that season and would use it to eventually win Super Bowls in 2022 and 2023.

Ryan Poles likely hopes to emulate that approach in Chicago. He has plenty of money to sign somebody notable in free agency and then can use one of his three picks in the first two rounds to further shore up the line. It isn't a bad plan, especially if the players he gets end up good.