The Chicago Bears and general manager Ryan Poles agreed on a contract extension, a league source confirmed to The Athletic.
Poles, who was hired in 2022, is under contract through 2029, according to ESPN, lining him up with new head coach Ben Johnson.
The Bears are 15-36 in the past three seasons with two last-place finishes. They fired head coach Matt Eberflus after Thanksgiving last year. Poles led the coaching search that resulted in the hiring of Johnson.
The team had declined to disclose Poles’ contract terms, but president/CEO Kevin Warren spoke glowingly about Poles and the team’s outlook when asked about a possible extension at the league meetings in April.
“One thing I will say about Ryan and coach, everything that we hoped that we would have from a working relationship, we’ve seen it,” he said. “Coach is exactly who we had hoped that he would be. Their relationship is exactly and I would say it has far exceeded what we could imagine. They work well together. You all have seen it.
“… To have those two men together and the staff that they’ve built, it’s not only them, but Ryan’s staff and also coach Johnson’s staff, gives me a lot of hope and positivity as we go into the season.”
While the record speaks for itself, once the Bears decided to move forward with Poles as GM, the sensible next move was to align his contract with Johnson instead of creating more uncertainty in the front office. Expectations are higher for 2025 than they would normally be for a team coming off a five-win season bringing in a new coaching staff.
“We liked his leadership,” chairman George McCaskey said in January when asked why the team retained Poles. “We liked the staff that he’s assembled. He has a couple people on his staff — (assistant GM) Ian Cunningham and (director of player personnel) Jeff King — who probably should be general managers for another NFL team. The communication has been excellent. And he’s in a business where, in the player personnel department, there are going to be hits and there are going to be misses. And the key is you have to have more hits than misses, so that is the challenge for him and for his staff.”
Poles’ trade of the No. 1 pick in 2023 netted the Bears wide receiver DJ Moore, right tackle Darnell Wright, cornerback Tyrique Stevenson and the 2024 top pick, which resulted in quarterback Caleb Williams.
With Williams and Johnson, the Bears believe they finally have the quarterback-coach duo they’ve sought for decades. Poles has also put together a roster that should position the team to contend for the playoffs this season. He acquired starting guards Joe Thuney and Jonah Jackson via trade and signed Pro Bowl defensive tackle Grady Jarrett.
As GM, Poles has extended the contracts of defensive end Montez Sweat, cornerback Jaylon Johnson, tight end Cole Kmet, Moore, Thuney, linebacker T.J. Edwards, and his first draft pick, cornerback Kyler Gordon.
There is a recent organizational precedent for this. After the 2017 season and the firing of head coach John Fox, the Bears extended the contract of then-GM Ryan Pace. Pace, who had a 14-34 record at the time, received his extension before he hired Matt Nagy as head coach.
(Photo: Michael Reaves / Getty Images)
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