Latest news with #RyanPoles
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
All eyes on Luther Burden as he hits the field at Bears training camp
As the 39th overall pick in the 2025 NFL Draft, Chicago Bears wide receiver Luther Burden III has high expectations entering the league as a rookie. Despite being banged up to start training camp, Burden returned to the field on Monday. Back on May 20, on the first day of OTAs, Burden went down with a hamstring injury that he's been battling back from ever since. Now finally back on the field, the rookie's first day of training camp saw him participating in some individual drills, but no team drills yet. In his limited work, Burden showed flashes of his quick-twitch athleticism, proving his rehabilitation has been going according to plan. Burden made his mark during his sophomore season of college with the Missouri Tigers in 2023, finishing ninth in the country with 1,212 receiving yards and nine touchdowns. Even with a down year in 2024, the Bears liked what they saw and drafted the electric young wideout. General manager Ryan Poles most likely could see Burden's raw athleticism and speed, knowing that if he can reach his full potential, the sky is the limit for how dominant the rookie can be. Ever since coming out of high school as a top 14 player in the nation, Burden has had the spotlight on him. The 21-year-old projects to be a seamless fit into a talented wide receiver room with the Bears that lacks proven depth. Using his 4.41 speed, Burden is a big-play threat with the ball in his hands, sharing a lot of similarities to the skillset of teammate DJ Moore. With the pair being supplemented by Rome Odunze heading into his second season, as well as a dynamic tight end duo, Caleb Williams will have all kinds of weapons to get the ball to. Burden's return to the field is great news to everyone in the Bears organization. With him healthy, Chicago will unlock a whole new aspect of its offense, hoping to bounce back after a five-win season in 2024.
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Bears GM Ryan Poles addresses recent contract extension
Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles was recently signed to a contract extension that will align him with head coach Ben Johnson, for the foreseeable future, in an effort to establish a culture inside Halas Hall. As the team continued to have turnover at the general manager and head coaching positions, there was not clear alignment on both sides until now with Poles and Johnson as both are under contract through 2029. Speaking to the media for the first time since signing his extension, Poles explained how he feels the alignment with Johnson will go and how things should work between them. Wanting to just be present in his support for his new head coach, Poles is putting the team and organization first. "Contract that came out while we were on break, I'm not going to get into details on that," Poles said Tuesday. "I am excited about the alignment and stability that we have within our leadership group here. I have an unbelievable group of people that support me, believe in me, work with me that help drive what we're doing with our roster and the football team. My sole focus right now is supporting Ben, his coaching staff, our players, and our entire organization and our entire football operation." Getting Poles and Johnson lined up together should build faith and confidence in the organization from a player and fan perspective, but the results will have to be there, as well. The other side of the equation is that if the success doesn't come sooner than later, both Johnson and Poles could find themselves on the chopping block together. Follow Bears Wire on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears GM Ryan Poles addresses recent contract extension
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Brad Biggs: Optimism for Bears is usually rooted in change. 5 reasons the latest reboot might succeed.
CHICAGO — Optimism can be found in many ways, but the only way it has been consistently produced at Halas Hall over the last decade or so is by change. Changing the general manager. Changing the head coach. Changing coordinators. Changing the quarterback. Call it the cycle of football for the Chicago Bears, one that has left them in a series of reboots — the latest of which started in earnest Tuesday when veterans reported for training camp, with the first practice Wednesday morning. GM Ryan Poles expressed gratitude for a contract extension that aligns him with first-year coach Ben Johnson, and he outlined some recent roster moves — notably Pro Bowl cornerback Jaylon Johnson landing on the non-football injury list with a leg issue that will sideline him at least a few weeks. Then Poles turned over the show to the man charged with taking an improved roster to a higher level. 'There's a lot of excitement around the program and I think rightfully so,' Ben Johnson said. 'There's a lot of talent on the roster. Looking forward to seeing what leaders come out of the locker room and really lead the charge here for us going into the fall.' Here the Bears go, with the hope this is nothing like any of the failed changes of the recent past. That excludes, of course, the terrific 2018 season under first-year coach Matt Nagy, the team's last real taste of success. Johnson, 39, was the hot name during the coaching hiring cycle in January, and the fact the Bears landed him with a contract worth $65 million over five seasons remains a bit of a shocker. If he's the next young rock-star head coach to roam NFL sidelines, the Bears indeed are headed in the right direction. Here are five reasons that potentially validate the latest wave of optimism as the Bears prepare to hit the field: 1. Competition is no longer just coach speak. That's how one team executive framed the notion that the Bears previously did more talking about having competition than actually putting players in position to battle it out. Johnson believes in it. He's brand new without preconceived notions about players. Sure, a good number of players are well-positioned because of their contractual status. The rest? They better be ready to perform for jobs. All eyes will be on what, for the time being, is a three-way battle at left tackle among Braxton Jones, rookie Ozzy Trapilo and Kiran Amegadjie, but the idea of real, honest competition will extend to more spots on the depth chart than you might imagine. 2. Johnson is open-minded about what the Bears will run. Caleb Williams struggled as a rookie to do what makes Jared Goff a top-tier quarterback for the Detroit Lions. Conversely, what Williams does at a high level, Goff can't do. That's why Johnson said when he arrived that he would build an offensive scheme and playbook around the players he has. He expanded on that thought a little Tuesday, saying they still are evaluating exactly what they want to be offensively. Wisely, they're waiting until pads go on and they're not operating in helmets and shorts. 'We've got to find out who we are, and I'm going beyond just the quarterback here,' Johnson said. 'I don't know if we're going to be a wide-zone team up front. I don't know if we're going to be a gap team yet. There's a lot of things that have got to play out.' 3. After repeated stop-gap measures to piece together the offensive line, the Bears took major action. No one would put the Bears in the discussion of the NFL's elite offensive lines because of the big question at left tackle. But Poles' trades for guards Joe Thuney — one of the most decorated interior linemen of the last decade — and Jonah Jackson plus a big contract to add free-agent center Drew Dalman have made them as good as any team from guard to guard. Williams should have a firm pocket, and no longer will conversations about the quarterback or offense have to be hedged with concern about protection. The Bears should be a better running team too. Thuney will be an asset to whoever winds up taking the majority of the snaps at left tackle. Dalman should ease the burden on Williams as he works to become much better at the line of scrimmage pre-snap. Think about it. When is the last time the offensive line's performance wasn't a caveat to include in any discussion of what the Bears offense or quarterback could do? 4. The coach and quarterback seem to be in a good place. Make no mistake. The biggest storyline of the 2025 season will be how Williams fares in Year 2. His development is more important than the win total. If he's clearly in ascent by January, you can feel good about the future direction. If it's muddled, then you're setting sights on a make-or-break 2026 season. 'I think we're ready to go,' Johnson said. 'The governor is off. (Williams) and I have been talking all spring, all summer, constant phone calls, constant conversations. And so I think we're in a great place and he wants to get coached hard. And we're going to push him as hard as we can and do what is right for the team.' Williams said he spent his downtime since the end of the offseason program improving his footwork, becoming more accurate on short throws to the left and trying to improve his cadence while also mastering the playbook. 'It's a really important relationship,' Williams said. 'It has been growing. It has been awesome. We're having fun. He gets on me, and it's greatly appreciated that he does. 'Being tough on me and realizing and understanding that nobody's above anybody. All of us are, and that's how we're going to march through this season.' Johnson even shared a lofty goal of having Williams complete 70% of his passes this season. He was 25th among qualifying players in 2024 at 62.5%, and only five quarterbacks — Tua Tagovailoa, Goff, Baker Mayfield, Joe Burrow and Geno Smith — reached the 70% threshold. Why not enter the season with bold ambitions? 5. The coaching staff has a lot of veteran minds from a wide variety of backgrounds. The Bears paid handsomely to hire Johnson, and they followed up by investing in assistants — notably Dennis Allen (defensive coordinator), Richard Smith (linebackers), Eric Bieniemy (running backs), Dan Roushar (offensive line), Al Harris (secondary) and Richard Hightower (special teams) — with a wealth of experience for Johnson to lean on. Provided Johnson is comfortable delegating responsibility — something every first-time head coach has to learn as he goes — it could prove to be a valuable mix. 'We've got a number of guys that have done this at a high level for a long time,' Johnson said, 'and so I am going to be going to them for advice quite a bit when certain things arise.' It was Winston Churchill who said, 'To improve is to change; to be perfect is to change often.' In that vein, the Bears have been chasing perfection for a mighty long time. Once again, it's a new beginning at Halas Hall. ____
Yahoo
7 days ago
- Sport
- Yahoo
Latest J.J. McCarthy revelation proves Minnesota Vikings weren't the only ones high on his potential
Latest J.J. McCarthy revelation proves Minnesota Vikings weren't the only ones high on his potential originally appeared on A to Z Sports. The Minnesota Vikings got their guy at quarterback in J.J. McCarthy at 10th overall in the 2024 NFL Draft. They also came close to not getting him in a few different ways. When writing about McCarthy's mentality, The Athletic's Alec Lewis shared a tidbit about the NFL Draft where he apparently came close to becoming a Chicago Bear. Still sipping a hot coffee at Starbucks, Holcomb recalls another moment from the offseason. He was hosting a quarterbacks camp for middle-school-aged boys, and one of the attendees was Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles. During a changeover at the camp, Holcomb approached Poles and introduced himself. They found their way to the subject of McCarthy.'He was talking about how much they (the Bears) loved J.J.,' Holcomb said. 'And said to me, 'I don't think people realize how close we were to possibly taking him.' Obviously, they love (No. 1 pick) Caleb (Williams), but I thought that was interesting.' View the to see embedded media. J.J. McCarthy came close to ending up with Chicago Bears Going into the 2024 NFL Draft, there was far from any sort of real consensus on McCarthy. Some believed he was a great prospect worthy of going in the top 10, while others had him viewed as a second round pick. I personally was on the lower end of McCarthy, ranking him 39th on my big board. There were just a lot of questions that hadn't been answered about what he was when he played at Michigan. Why McCarthy was selected as high as he was is due to a couple of factors: his arm is a whip, especially in the intermediate range, and his mentality seems to be on a different level from everyone else. It felt inevitable that the Bears were going to take Caleb Williams at first overall, and that ended up happening. This new revelation comes without too much of a suprise in hindsight, as McCarthy has gotten a large amount of praise from inside the building and those who are there every day. Hindsight is always 20/20, but this new piece of information shows how much many believed in McCarthy. View the to see embedded media. This story was originally reported by A to Z Sports on Jul 21, 2025, where it first appeared.
Yahoo
23-07-2025
- Sport
- Yahoo
Poles: Jaylon Johnson is going to be out ‘a few weeks' with leg injury
LAKE FOREST, Ill. (WGN) — On day 1 of training camp at Halas Hall, Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles announced it'll be a little bit before Jaylon Johnson is back in pads at full-strength. 'It is going to take a few weeks before he can come back. We got a lot of faith that he's going to put in time to rehab and be his full self when he comes back,' Poles said. 'I'm sure we'll have updates as we go through training camp, but it's going to take a little bit of time, but [we're] not overly concerned about long term.' The Bears placed Johnson and three other players (QB Case Keenum, WR Jahdae Walker and RB Ian Wheeler) on the Active/Non-Football Injury (NFI) List Friday, July 19. Keenum was on the NFI list for about 24 hours before he was placed back on the active roster. Poles said Walker and Wheeler were both reactivated Tuesday afternoon. Johnson has made back-to-back Pro Bowls and played in 31 of 34 possible games going back to the beginning of the 2023 NFL regular season. He missed Weeks 4 and 5 in 2023 due to a hamstring injury, and was inactive for Week 17 of the same season against the Green Bay Packers. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
