Rahimi, Harris & Grote Show
Ryan Poles admitting he's drafting for scheme fit is a 'self-own'
24 Apr 2026
Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
Chapter 1: What comments did Ryan Poles make about drafting for scheme fit?
rahimi harrison grody herb joins us in studio right now and and marshall he smells great and that to me that is bonus points on top that is an underrated thing i mean you smell great middays 10 to 2 on 104.3 the score i have always been fast but i feel like it's really kind of picked up being in college i know my brother's a joke i used to like brace down the driveway
all the time, like racing them or racing like the car on the way home from school, like some of that stuff.
Yeah, it's all fun and games until you realize Dylan Theaterman runs a 4-3-5-40. Yeah. And that's when it's serious. This is Layla Rahimi, Marshall Harris, Mark Grody, and Herb Howard in with you on this Draft Friday. Herb with the Biggs Media. He is part of our Draft Special tomorrow with Mully and Haw. That is Saturday from 9 until noon right here on 104.3 The Score.
And Herb, you were there for the Ryan Poles media availability following the first round last night at Hallas Hall.
Yeah.
Toward the end of the press conference, I heard two comments from Ryan Poles that nearly made me, like, drop whatever I was holding at the time. Guys, listen to this.
A lot of good options. A lot of good options. I'll say this. This was probably the most aggressive we were in terms of the guys that we really like. Like, they have to play our style. They got to have the right makeup. in terms of our scheme fits, like all of that had to be there. If it wasn't there, you're off the board. We were really aggressive with it.
So when you look at it, it feels really thin, but that's a good thing. I think it's a really good thing because we're very selective of who we want. There's some historical numbers that I have that makes me feel confident that there's going to be guys that we like still available to us. So thankfully, the numbers are high enough where, you know, I'll be able to sleep a little bit tonight.
Just confidence in our system. And then, again, this staff is unbelievable. We're just given clarity. And I think as we continue to work with each other, we're going to know exactly what we're looking for. So why mess around with those that don't fit what we're trying to do? And then we're having conversations in the summertime and in the fall of why that guy can't play for us or it's not a fit.
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Chapter 2: Why is drafting for scheme fit considered a self-own by Ryan Poles?
I don't think it's people. It's just traits. It's just traits. And let me look at these stats from the combine. That's what I saw in not only the players that actually came in, but then to see the usage of those players as bears under the previous regime. And you could even argue last year to a degree when the guys like Ruben Hippolyte,
Last year, I disagree, though. Every draft is going to have guys that are not going to blossom with any team. They pretty much had fits last year with their draft. I mean, look at the first three guys they took. Colston Loveland, we all know how good he is. Luther Burden was a bit of a revelation. Ozzie Trapillo became a left tackler.
Ozzie Trapillo was real tracy, though. He was a right tackle. They wanted to move him to left tackle. And he did, and he was fine. I think he was still traits-y more than he was scheming.
But he fit in their scheme. Shamar Turner, I guess we'll wait and see. Yeah, Hippolyte is the dud so far, but I talked about Luke Newman. Kyle Menungai, those guys were all... scheme fits. That was a successful draft last year.
This is a wild thing to say in year five.
It is, but I think that goes previous to last year.
Matt Eberflus, though, did talk about wanting a three technique. The idea that you were still going to draft people to fit a scheme wasn't typical or wasn't unique to just this one situation. This was something the previous head coach wanted. I'm not saying he wronged Matt Eberflus, but You can't change people as much as he thought you could.
And to say that you realize that in a season in September, that's a bit of a cell phone.
Herb, I'm looking at it like this. Ryan Pulse has been given the space by virtue of his contract extension to truly right his wrongs of the past and evolve. And what I heard there in those answers is a guy who understands to delegate to the head coach and, for all intents and purposes, the defensive head coach and Dennis Allen and, of course, Ben Johnson.
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Chapter 3: How have past drafts impacted the current Bears roster?
Now you're willing to say... say the thing that that we all kind of suspected which is like i'm thank god but like how do you not talk to somebody and say how do you plan on using this individual if we get him you're like what do you like about these players and unfortunately i'm not trying to to diss on him because i think he's still good but jervon dexter is a good example of this
yeah i agree you drafted a guy you thought you could change him and what's worse is how many times as reporters marshall herb mark did we hear the bears say how smart their process was how smart their system was how they were doing things correctly that was very much a front office down thing and then no no what you just said illustrates it now now it was exactly what we all thought it was so why were y'all so high on it if you knew that this is what it was
I think for a time you had the personnel department trying to overcome the coaching staff, right? Just like the players were.
We were all trying to overcome the coaching staff.
If there's not a vision there, then okay, you don't have a vision for what you want. Let me just give you what we believe to be good football players. And that's fine. Like I said earlier, they're all good football players. We got the National Football League. But if they don't fit, they aren't going to perform at a high level for you. Now... The vision is clear.
We can get those specific football players. They have a better chance of performing at a high level for you. They can be the best version of themselves.
It also just speaks to why five-star recruits from high school were also such a big part of this. How many times could we go back to the high school tape on a lot of the Bears players and say, oh, well, you were a five-star recruit in high school.
And covering college extensively, I always thought that that was inaccurate because you can't, unless you're watching so many games, you can't really judge that. Some of it you base on which school wants you. So even that's flawed.
It's definitely a flawed process from high school all the way up. But it's a little bit more clear once you've established your program, your college program. There's some continuity at the coaching staff. You start to recruit certain guys to do certain things, and you're able to replicate that success over the long term. I think it's not very, very different in the NFL.
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Chapter 4: What were the criticisms of the previous coaching staff's drafting strategy?
Mark, we told you it's going to rain.
Mark did not bring an umbrella.
Ray Diaz, give me a boat, man.
I'm on a boat.
You put him in the short chair here. I don't know. We need better treatment for her. That's cool. I'm comfortable, man. It's always a pleasure to come and hang out with you guys. I appreciate it. Well, this goes like, at least I don't have it Haw height. Like it'd be way higher with Haw.
David Haw is on like a tree branch whenever he sits in the chair. And Molly too.
They like to be high up. They take the high ground. Both of those guys.
Herb, we appreciate you coming in. Thanks for the perspective. And thank you for letting me vent about that because I can't imagine what it was like sitting across from it.
You're amazing. I appreciate you all. Thanks for having me.
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