Ryan Poles addresses looming decision on Jaquan Brisker
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What are Ryan Poles' main points from the NFL Combine press conference?
This is Rahimi Harrison-Grote on 104.3 The Score, and we are listening and reacting. Not reading and reacting, but listening and reacting to Ryan Poles, who spoke today at the NFL Combine as it gets underway in Indianapolis. Our coverage of this is brought to you by your local Hyundai dealers. And here's just a recap briefly of what he's talked about so far. At 25, he's drafting the best player available, he says. He says he knows a lot of people don't like it. Maybe one of her names is Layla. But he is going to stick with his board, at least according to Ryan Bowles today. He acknowledged Caleb Williams' rookie contract, and I think you said it the best. No extension talk yet, because they still have steps.
And I wanted to get into that a little bit before we get to the rest of this, because... You were right to point it out, Mark Grody. I think another piece of this that's really big is I love that it's a direct contradiction to what he had to say at this time last year, which was steps were skipped. Embrace the steps.
Steps were skipped, and although steps were not that we know of skipped this year, there are still steps that Caleb Williams must go through and get better at to be the complete quarterback we would all like him to be.
Well, and that's it. And I like that Ryan Poles is saying, hey, nothing is guaranteed here yet. If you want an extension, if you want to be the quarterback, and Jason Leisure was the one who posed the question about the certainty that he thinks the Bears have in their quarterback I feel that way but I also like that the boss says I don't think you're there yet I think that that's a perfect reaction when you consider this is year one of what he hopes is many things not that it's his rookie year because we know that was before but that you're one of a Ben Johnson offense and you're one of trying to set a standard here that's different that's an important line to be able to draw
I think he's sending a message the same way that Caleb Williams has been sending messages, whether he's... Tweeting, trolling on social media, going on Max Crosby's podcast and talking for more than an hour. Messages are being sent. Lines are being drawn in the sand. I think this line that's being drawn in the sand, specifically by Ryan Poles, is emblematic of an organization that wants to see the franchise quarterback be a franchise quarterback, not just in the second half of the games, not just in the last two minutes of games, but to show a level of consistency there. that befits what they paid, which was the number one overall pick.
How does Ryan Poles view the importance of drafting the best player available?
And he's looking for a franchise contract, let's be honest. And when you talk about the amount of money that's going to be invested into him as a franchise quarterback, there's certain things he has not done yet that he still needs to do. But he's still going to be doing whatever he's doing for the next 10 years in a Bears uniform, Mark.
Yeah, Ryan Poles and Ben Johnson, let's put it very simply, saw the season pretty similarly to the way we saw the season for Caleb Williams in terms of there was some moments in the first seven or eight games where like, is he the guy? Is he going to get there? And then second half of the season and the final fourth of the season, he looked elite at times.
Well, you know what else I think we hear when we hear Ryan Pohl say that? Ben Johnson's opinion. We're going to get it here in a couple of minutes, but when Ryan Pohl says that, it's asking the question, you know, did you do everything your head coach wanted you to do? Did you follow the steps that your head coach wanted you to follow? When Ben Johnson said strip it down to the studs last year, what did that entail? And, yeah, I think you bring up a really good point, Mark. Like, there were several games against lesser opponents where we found ourselves asking the question, did QB1 do enough? Did those, I think, lessen over time, especially toward the end of the season and the playoffs? Yes. But you want that beginning of the season to start a lot stronger than it did first five or six games last year.
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What are Ryan Poles' main points from the NFL Combine press conference?
0:00–2:36
2
How does Ryan Poles view the importance of drafting the best player available?
2:36–6:45
3
What does Ryan Poles say about Caleb Williams' development as a quarterback?
6:45–9:45
4
What challenges does Ryan Poles face with Jaquan Brisker's future?
9:45–14:41
5
How is the Bears' defensive spending impacting team decisions?
14:41–19:51
Speakers
5 identifiedMore from Rahimi & Grote Show
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