Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles was warned not to draft 3 OL

Tyler Dunne dropped a three-part bombshell days before the start of the Chicago Bears regular season. Dunne talked to former and current Bears staffers about Caleb Williams’ first season in Chicago, general manager Ryan Poles’ incompetence in the front office, and CEO Kevin Warren’s aura in Halas Hall.

Some juicy tidbits didn’t make the published product, but Dunne provided readers with an update after the Bears dropped a 52-21 laugher to the Detroit Lions in Week 2.

The Chicago Bears have been bad at scouting OL under Ryan Poles

Per Dunne, some scouts have mocked the idea that Poles, a former offensive lineman, has a natural ability to find gems up front. His failures to scout Doug Kramer, Zachary Thomas, and Kiran Amegadjie are legendary in their own right.

Scouts thought Kramer fit the profile of a UDFA, but Poles took him in the sixth round. Thomas was also taken in the sixth round after the general manager was warned that he kept losing his reps in college.

“Poles also selected San Diego State’s Zachary Thomas in the sixth,” Dunne wrote. “The tape was rough. Thomas failed to generate a surge in the run game, stay on blocks and — above all — he lacked an anchor. That didn’t bother Poles. In draft meetings, he said multiple times that Thomas ‘knows how to lose.’… Thomas, however, lost consistently. “Losing on his edges, losing around the horn, losing through his chest,” this scout said. “And Poles kept falling in love with saying, ‘He knows how to lose.’ Well, yeah, he’s losing every single rep.” Neither player is on a team. (this season.)

The Bears were urged to stay away from Kiran Amegadjie

Despite the quad injury, league scouts were worried about Amegadjie’s ability to block players at the NFL level.

“The GM slotted Amegadjie at the top of a Day 2 stack. Others on the staff saw a UDFA because a.) the competition in the Ivy League was subpar and b.) the tape wasn’t exactly dominant,” Dunne wrote. “He had size and athleticism but didn’t push people around. ‘What is he going to do against NFL players?’ one scout asked. ‘When he has to face real rushers with strength, length and power that can bend? That are violent?’
Amegadjie was a healthy scratch on Sunday (against the Lions)… as were second-round picks Ozzy Trapilo and Shemar Turner.”

Poles added three new offensive linemen to the roster this offseason, but they have been a problem this season. Penalties have killed drives, and that’s nothing to say about the issues at left tackle, where Trapilo doesn’t look close to being ready to play.

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