Going 0-for-3 in winning seasons as Bears GM, Ryan Poles nevertheless received a vote of confidence from team president Kevin Warren. The third-year Bears honcho installed Poles as the leader of the HC search process, doing so shortly after the club’s decision to can Matt Eberflus.
Poles arrived in Chicago two days before the Bears hired Eberflus. This gave the ex-Chiefs exec say in whom the Bears hired, albeit without him running the 2022 search. As such, Poles will be more closely tied to his second HC hire. The Bears’ latest HC add comes with much greater fanfare compared to Eberflus, and due to the demand Ben Johnson created, a high salary will come with it.
The Bears signed off on a $13MM-per-year deal for Johnson, according to ESPN.com’s Courtney Cronin. That AAV more than doubles Eberflus’, with Cronin placing that at $6MM. While three AFC West coaches (Andy Reid, Sean Payton, Jim Harbaugh) are out-earning Johnson, not many others are. With coaching salaries not tied to the cap, teams are not required to make them public. But Johnson’s money likely checks in as a top-10 HC salary. It came after the Bears won a bidding war of sorts.
Johnson, 38, received extensive interest from the Jaguars and Raiders. While Mark Davis said the Raiders never made an offer, they were linked to preparing a big-ticket HC contract to add the successful Lions OC. The Jaguars also were believed to have Johnson atop their list. Trent Baalke‘s presence impeded Jacksonville — though, Johnson was believed to have stopped short of asking the Jaguars to move on from their then-GM — while Tom Brady‘s Raiders sales pitch could not match what the Bears presented.
That said, the two coaches Las Vegas and Jacksonville did ultimately hire — Liam Coen, Pete Carroll — will not have holdover GMs. The Jags are still searching — for an exec Coen will need to approve — while the Raiders hired ex-Buccaneers assistant GM John Spytek. Johnson will work with Poles, but Cronin adds the high-end play-caller did not call for the Bears to start fresh at GM. Furthermore, Poles is likely to receive an extension that aligns with Johnson’s deal.
As it stands, Poles is signed through the 2026 season. However, Cronin adds the Bears are expected to authorize an extension to align Poles with Johnson. This will be a significant development for Poles, who is 15-36 as a GM. The Bears gave Poles’ predecessor — Ryan Pace — more time (seven seasons), and his first playoff berth did not come until his fourth season. Pace’s second HC hire (Matt Nagy) was responsible for that, after John Fox preceded Eberflus in going 0-for-3 in postseason appearances in Chicago.
The Bears gave Pace an extension during his fourth GM offseason as well, aligning him with Nagy. Although Warren is a new piece to this puzzle, a Poles deal coming this offseason would be quite similar to the Bears’ previous front office timeline.
Poles, 39, has certainly not been the most successful member of the 2022 GM hiring class. Neither Kwesi Adofo-Mensah nor Omar Khan has received an extension yet, despite two playoff berths occurring on their respective watches. The Giants have retained Joe Schoen, though he has also not received an extension and will enter 2025 on a hot seat. The Raiders fired Dave Ziegler midway through his second season. Poles beating his group to an extension would be surprising, but Pace’s tenure shows the Bears giving their GMs more time than HCs to turn the operation around.
An extension certainly does not make a GM bulletproof, as the 2022 ouster of Jon Robinson (Titans) and 2023 dismissal of Steve Keim (Cardinals) show. But a second contract will obviously prove financially beneficial for Poles. The Bears were able to land the biggest fish in this year’s coaching pool, however, and Poles would appear to be receiving tremendous credit for it. How Johnson fares with Caleb Williams will define Poles’ GM tenure in Chicago, but the young exec may not be facing a situation where he is on a particularly hot seat going into his fourth season.
TEN – Hunter
CLE – Carter
NYG – Jeanty
NE – McMillan
JAX – Campbell
LV – Sanders
NY – Ward
CAR – Johnson
NOL – Egbuka
CHI – Graham
I don’t like many of those choices but I do like the enthusiasm. I think with Boselli in charge that makes Campbell totally in play for Jax. No way the Giants take Jeanty after proving they had no idea how to win with Barkley. I don’t see any way the Browns pass up a QB to take another DL. Garrett isn’t getting moved. Tenn taking Hunter? is that really the way to go? Graham wouldn’t be horrible for the Bears but I don’t see him making it past NE and Vrabel.It’s impossible to predict this yet anyway until you see where FA takes everybody. But some out of the box thinking there I like Goku.
I’m just here to talk football
And it’s been a great day for that (off work today / lots of headlines)
I’m not a fan of the QBs this year. Don’t think either are worth taking top 5
I have Ward rated higher than Sanders, but Raiders taking Sanders for the PR
NE desperately needs a weapon for Maye. They have an open book this offseason so a lot of options on the table
Ya i think Tenn could go Hunter if they’re also not thrilled with the QBs
Carter to Browns if they trade Myles. Ward if not.
But if they can maneuver for say pick 11 for Myles, then they can get Carter at 2, and potentially also get Ward around 11 (potentially have to trade up a few spots)
I think this will be one of the toughest years to figure out a decent mock draft. I like some of your ideas and they make sense. The QB’s aren’t exactly locks this year to be sure. Doesn’t mean they won’t get taken though. Levis isn’t horrible but he needs help and so will whoever they decide on. It’s better for them to build a better roster and play for a QB in the future IMO. Graham might end up being the best player in this draft. For instance, If the Bears sign Ryan Kelly and another guy for the line in FA, Then with The 2 second round picks they could get an Edge and a guy like Booker in round 2. Or they could sign a Edge in FA and make it all moot. I could even see Johnson falling in love with Jeanty if he lasts until 10 and they sign 2 FA OL. Still a lot of cards to be played before April but I like some of your thinking for right now. Kudos
lol Jeanty ain’t going number 3 ill put money on that
Hahaha I’m not betting on it
Just love the idea
How about Jeanty number 1 tho ???
Muhuhahaha
Someone call Vegeta you’re out of control!
No offense but the Giants taking a running back at three is not happening. They have a bunch of holes on the OL and defense. They also need a QB, though I am hoping they don’t draft one.
I should also mention that they already have Tyrone Tracy, who looked pretty good. RB is not even a position of need.
Giants don’t have any good players. That’s why they’re picking at 3, and why I have them taking best available
;)
I mean, Nabors is great and Tracy had over 800 yards (in roughly 13 games as the feature back) despite defenses stacking the box because the passing game sucked. It might actually be the position of least need for the Giants as you can always use more WRs. An RB at 3 might be the worst pick they could possibly make, haha.
Fine
If Johnson can figure out when to call a timeout that makes him at least 7 wins better than Eberlose before he even walks onto the field. Although Poles has been hit or miss, It makes sense to make HC and GM locked together to figure it out. Bears are scaring me with their competence lately. Figures that I’m 68 when I saw it.
It’s silly not to spend competitively on coaches. There’s no salary cap on coaches, but also, landing the most sought after coordinator of the last few years cost them about as money as Darnell Mooney cost last year.
So far the Bears (Johnson) and the Cubs (Counsell) have the two of some of the highest paid HC and Managers in their sport. And, so we wait for results.
Well Counsell has a moron acquiring players for him. Hoyer knows as much about assembling a winning roster as I do about Nuclear Fusion. For a Football GM to be successful He has to know what kind of system the Coaches want to play, And then figure out the best players to draft to help them get there. With Eberlose he had zero idea what he was trying to do in the first place so I can see the dilemna Poles might have figuring out the right players to take. Hopefully Johnson and Allen do a way better job of communicating what TYPE of players they want. Because the key part in drafting is figuring out what kind of players are available in the latter rounds who still fill a need. That might explain some of Poles and Cunninghams 50-50 draft record. He needs to do a better job in FA to be sure. His odds are way down there.
I suspect Johnson went to the Bears because of Williams, not Poles. Bears fans, should Poles be extended or should they wait and see how he works with Johnson?
Not sure about Poles yet. Johnson is a great hire, but Poles has made some dumb talent choices.. btw.. Ryan Pace’s one postseason game was due to Vic Fangio’s great defense, not Matt Nagy’s lame offense
Statistically the worst GM in Bears history, dude makes one great trade and a whole bunch of terrible moves and he deserves an extension? What if the OL is still bad next year and Ben Johnson isn’t the solution? Personally thought they should have started completely over after this year and figured on any decent team Poles would be a lame duck GM but I guess the bar is very low for the Bears to fire a GM.
I like what Ben Johnson did in Detroit, but it seems the Bears are being blinded by shiny objects. Let’s face it, their shiny quarterback failed to do what the over enthused fan base believed he could. There is much risk to flipping a coaching staff on a QB after their rookie season.
Chicago has also been too willing to go fishing at the Detroit watering hole. This has all the trappings of being an overplayed Erik Kramer move.