Kansas City Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles has been among the hottest names as NFL teams search for new general managers during this cycle.
Two NFC North rivals in that of the Chicago Bears and Minnesota Vikings had been vying for his services.
We now have some more information on this. According to NFL Media’s Ian Rapoport and Mike Garafolo, the Bears are expected to hire Poles to replace the recently-fired Ryan Pace in that role.
This could potentially be a huge hire for the Bears. Just 36 years old, Poles has been with the Chiefs’ organization since all the way back in 2009. He’s seen as a major up-and-comer as a personnel man around the NFL.
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A finalist for the Carolina Panthers general manager job last cycle, Poles has worked under three different general managers in Kansas City (Scott Pioli, John Dorsey and Brett Veach). It’s somewhat surprising to see someone stick around when front office shake-ups are made. This tell us everything we need to know about Poles’ reputation around the NFL world.
Poles had a major role in helping rebuild the Chiefs’ offensive line during the 2021 NFL Draft after Patrick Mahomes was destroyed by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ pass rush in the Super Bowl. That included nabbing current starters Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith outside of Round 1.
With Poles now in place, Chicago will expedite its search for a new head coach. Reports on Tuesday conclude that former Indianapolis Colts and Detroit Lions head man Jim Caldwell was in the building in Chicago when news broke of Ryan Poles being hired.
This would make a ton of sense given that Caldwell has a wealth of experience and with Poles is of the up-and-coming variety.
In an interesting twist, Poles also reunites with a Bears team that signed him as an undrafted free agent out of Boston College back in 2007. Poles played offensive line with the Eagles.
By virtue of the Chiefs’ losing Poles to another team, they’ll receive two future third-round picks as compensation. Just recently, the NFL changed its rules so that organizations receive draft pick compensation if another team hires a minority head coach or general manager.