Poles Free Agent Signings and Trades

[adam]

In the last 3 seasons, the Bears have signed or traded for at least 37 players, I am sure I missed a few.

Of all the trades and free agent signings, I have 5 players that have exceeded expectations based on contract or trade value. Who did I miss? 

I know you can't hit on all of them, but it feels like there are way too many at the bottom.  Super long post, but let me know if you think this looks accurate?

This group exceeded expectations:

1. Moore - has been as close of WR1 as they have had since Alshon and Marshall
2. Edwards - great LB signing
3. Billings - underrated DT
4. Byard - huge upgrade from Jackson
5. Taylor - for a 6th round pick? A pleasant surprise at Edge
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For me this group has performed as expected or close enough based on their contract:

Sweat - 6th highest contract, 58th in sacks with 4.5
Swift - signed a top 10 contract, currently 19th in rushing yards
Walker - $7M AAV for rotational DL
Owens - fairly solid ST player and backup S
Shelton - has steadily improved at C, was super shaky for first 6 weeks though
Jones - played solid DT for the Bears, but they didn't resign him
Carter - solid returner, filled in as WR admirably
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This group played decent but did not live up to contract:

Allen - huge contract, 4th round pick given up, finally played to his potential on Thanksgiving. Need to see that for 5 more games.
Edmunds - Massive overpay for a very average MLB, 3rd highest LB contract in the NFL
Ngakoue - Was supposed to be that Edge2 the Bears needed, never lived up to it

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This group of lesser players that were average at best:

Bates - Poles lovefest
Pryor - meh
Homer - meh
Obongbemiga - meh
St. Brown - meh
Morrow - meh, but then goes to the Raiders and leads NFL in tackles?
Blasingame - meh
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This group underperformed or were underutilized:

Everett - has looked terrible, like super bad, we gave up some young UDFA TEs to keep him
Cole - ST player
Foreman - spent half the year inactive
Patrick - was horrible, leaves the team and magically becomes a Pro Bowler
Lewis - I have never seen a player come in for one play, get penalized for a false start, then leave the game as much as Lewis.
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This group was a hot pile of garbage:

Feeney - Poles traded for him
Cruikshank - terrible
Siemian - why
Pringle - omg this guy sucked
Muhammad - a tackling dummy would apply more pressure than he did
Dozier - Poles thought signing arguably the worst G in the league would be a good idea?
Peterman - really?
Tonyan - This guy was supposed to be TE2 and had brick hands. He should be playing volleyball at San Jose St.
Davis - This guy is still getting paid by the Bears
Claypool - worst trade in the last decade, never trade a pick before you know the slot

 

5 names? That's it. Again, please tell me what Poles has excelled at and done better than the Vikings, Packers, and Lions front offices? It feels like the Bears are getting lapped, yet they had the pick of the litter over the last 3 years. Draft picks up next. 

[Stinger226]

That's a good list, when players get hurt and dont perform up to contracts, I give a nuetral grade. No one figures injuries. What Poles does that I like is not give a lot of big contracts that are long term hits on cap. Edmunds is an above average players but not lived up to the money. Its hard to find Edwards and Billings cheap pay , good play . 

Edmunds is a leader and presence in the middle of the defense that doesnt always shows up in stats. Sweat has had nagging injuries that has slowed him down. Davis and Claypool are the only players that got good money , the rest were just cheap contracts he took a shot on. 

He paid JJ, Kmet, DJ Moore, Sweat and Swift. Swift has not lived up to par because of the poor offensive play of OL and play calling. Sweat has been bothered by injuries. All those guys he paid deserved it. Edmunds ??? 

He has excellent cap space and 4 top  picks 11-37-40-73, I say that is gives us a good future. 

[ASHKUM BEAR]

The Bears had how many years with few draft picks.  How many vet contracts did they have to clear to actually have healthy cap space again. Poles said he was going to build through the draft and not FA,  so that means taking many shots on lower level vet contracts and not chasing the stars.  With little resources and needs, he bit on Claypool which at the time we were all excited to get Fields a deep threat.   Nate Davis filled a huge void but he checked out mentally, played 11 and 2 games.  He graded 3rd in 2023 for the Bears oline behind Jenkins and Braxton Jones. So he was fine in 2023.  Edmunds has not lived up to his ability, but could with an improved dline, so here is too hoping Poles addresses this area along with the oline. 

The issue, in my opinion, is coaching.  If you have a coach that knows how to win, and you are winning games, your players look better, play better, and you forget the bad easier.  This we will have to see.  

[BearFan PHX]

1 hour ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

The Bears had how many years with few draft picks.  How many vet contracts did they have to clear to actually have healthy cap space again. Poles said he was going to build through the draft and not FA,  so that means taking many shots on lower level vet contracts and not chasing the stars.  With little resources and needs, he bit on Claypool which at the time we were all excited to get Fields a deep threat.   Nate Davis filled a huge void but he checked out mentally, played 11 and 2 games.  He graded 3rd in 2023 for the Bears oline behind Jenkins and Braxton Jones. So he was fine in 2023.  Edmunds has not lived up to his ability, but could with an improved dline, so here is too hoping Poles addresses this area along with the oline. 

The issue, in my opinion, is coaching.  If you have a coach that knows how to win, and you are winning games, your players look better, play better, and you forget the bad easier.  This we will have to see.  

I totally agree. But mostly Poles biggest strikes have been in choosing coaches?

[ASHKUM BEAR]

22 hours ago, BearFan PHX said:

I totally agree. But mostly Poles biggest strikes have been in choosing coaches?

I think Poles was handcuffed on the coach.  They pre-interviewed the candidates and told him who they favored.  I would also say by the Warren/Poles post Flus interview, that they could not fire the HC without McCaskeys blessings.  Hence they had to wait for George to get to Halas Hall before proceeding.  

Poles, imo, couldn't fire him after last season. He had 2 years left on contract and that is not something they would consider without a disaster. 

Eberflus ultimately hires his coaching staff, so it is difficult to see how Poles failed with Getsy/Waldron when these were guys Flus wouldnhave hired.  

[BearFan PHX]

35 minutes ago, ASHKUM BEAR said:

I think Poles was handcuffed on the coach.  They pre-interviewed the candidates and told him who they favored.  I would also say by the Warren/Poles post Flus interview, that they could not fire the HC without McCaskeys blessings.  Hence they had to wait for George to get to Halas Hall before proceeding.  

Poles, imo, couldn't fire him after last season. He had 2 years left on contract and that is not something they would consider without a disaster. 

Eberflus ultimately hires his coaching staff, so it is difficult to see how Poles failed with Getsy/Waldron when these were guys Flus wouldnhave hired.  

I think it all comes down to how much Poles actually wanted Eberflus this offseason vs being told he had to keep him.

I've heard that the McCaskeys wouldnt let him fire Flus, and Ive heard that Warren wanted to fire Flus and Poles fought to keep him. Both can't be true, and I have no idea which if any are real.

I'd need to know inside info I just don't have.

As for the assistants, I have been a loud voice about letting a coach fill his staff, but sheesh those were bad choices. And it seems like Trace Armstrong had way too much sway with our decision makers whoever they were.

Now we hope that Warren gets this right, and I dunno if he's even qualified for that.

Seems another sh*tshow.

The good news is we are all looking at the same names, and none of us really know which ones would work out and which wouldnt so theres some luck to it, so maybe we will get lucky and hit the right answer!

[Stinger226]

On 12/2/2024 at 9:16 PM, ASHKUM BEAR said:

The Bears had how many years with few draft picks.  How many vet contracts did they have to clear to actually have healthy cap space again. Poles said he was going to build through the draft and not FA,  so that means taking many shots on lower level vet contracts and not chasing the stars.  With little resources and needs, he bit on Claypool which at the time we were all excited to get Fields a deep threat.   Nate Davis filled a huge void but he checked out mentally, played 11 and 2 games.  He graded 3rd in 2023 for the Bears oline behind Jenkins and Braxton Jones. So he was fine in 2023.  Edmunds has not lived up to his ability, but could with an improved dline, so here is too hoping Poles addresses this area along with the oline. 

The issue, in my opinion, is coaching.  If you have a coach that knows how to win, and you are winning games, your players look better, play better, and you forget the bad easier.  This we will have to see.  

good post

[Stinger226]

8 hours ago, BearFan PHX said:

I think it all comes down to how much Poles actually wanted Eberflus this offseason vs being told he had to keep him.

I've heard that the McCaskeys wouldnt let him fire Flus, and Ive heard that Warren wanted to fire Flus and Poles fought to keep him. Both can't be true, and I have no idea which if any are real.

I'd need to know inside info I just don't have.

As for the assistants, I have been a loud voice about letting a coach fill his staff, but sheesh those were bad choices. And it seems like Trace Armstrong had way too much sway with our decision makers whoever they were.

Now we hope that Warren gets this right, and I dunno if he's even qualified for that.

Seems another sh*tshow.

The good news is we are all looking at the same names, and none of us really know which ones would work out and which wouldnt so theres some luck to it, so maybe we will get lucky and hit the right answer!

Rumors are just rumors until they prove the truth. Poles seems like a realist as a football guy. Loyal to Flus but when he lost the team willing to move on. so I have a tendancy to believe he wanted him let go after the AZ and NE games , clearly the team quit on him. I think his sounding board is Warren and Warren answers to George. They wouldnt let him. They got embarassed in Detroit, and changed their opinion.

Poles biggest mistake was being loyal to Flus after finishing 5-3 at the end of last season. Things were looking up. 2nd was his OL build that blew up with Davis checking out and Bates being injured for most of the year. Shelton is actually our most consistant OL. I think I seen he was ranked as the 6th rated OC according to PFF (boo) Adam? When he sees a weakness he attacks it, I think he brings in Trey Smith at RG, and drafts the crap oot of OL. Brings back Jenkins and Shelton on team friendly deals and best man wins. Next yr Kiran A. will compete with Jones at LT and be competant depth for who loses.