LAKE FOREST, Ill. (670 The Score) -- An undrafted rookie offensive tackle with feint hopes of making the NFL, Ryan Poles was cut by the Bears in summer 2008 and wondered what was next for him.
Poles spent some time in Alaska assisting on a military base. He moved to Vermont with his girlfriend, Katie, whom he would later propose to under the fireworks of Chicago’s Navy Pier. A marketing job awaited in his future until a phone call came offering him a graduate assistant job at Boston College.
Then 22, Poles found clarity when NFL scouts would arrive on campus in Chestnut Hill. He was drawn to what they did and suddenly saw his future in that line of work.
Poles was hired by the Chiefs as a scouting assistant in 2009. That first role in the NFL eventually led him to Monday, when he was introduced by the Bears as their new general manager. Poles spent 13 years in Kansas City, moving up the ranks to college scouting coordinator (2010-’15), director of college scouting (2016-’19), assistant director of player personnel (2019-’20) and executive director of player personnel (2021) before being hired by the Bears.
In Kansas City, Poles was part of an organization with a roster that arose, crumbled and emerged again. Poles worked under three different general managers with vastly different philosophies. He helped scout talent when the Chiefs held the No. 1 overall pick in 2013 after a 2-14 season. He helped identify superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes leading up to the 2017 NFL Draft, in which the Chiefs made a bold trade up to land him. And Poles earned a Super Bowl ring in February 2020.
Poles took lessons from the successes and failures during his Chiefs tenure as well as the styles he observed. It’s why he joins the Bears with an open mind for leadership.
2009-’12: Poles works under Pioli
When he joined the Chiefs organization, Poles worked under a respected general manager in Scott Pioli, who was tasked with turning around Kansas City’s struggling organization after winning three Super Bowl rings in New England.
Poles was promoted to college scouting coordinator in 2010, his second year in Kansas City. The Chiefs won the AFC West crown that year after going 4-12 in 2009, and Pioli was named the Executive of the Year for his work.
Pioli made an impression on Poles in that time.
“It’s roles and responsibilities, discipline, value,” Poles said.
It was also more than that. Pioli had a new-age view, putting an emphasis on analytics that wasn’t common then.
Poles has pledged to use an analytics-based approach with the Bears as he seeks solutions for reshaping Chicago’s football operations.
“It definitely is part of our process,” Poles said. “It’s challenging what our eyes see, and I think that’s the beautiful thing about all of the data that we now have, is we can challenge what we see and then make the proper decision based off that. I’ve always used the analogy, I know how to get home, but I put it into Waze anyways because it might tell me that there’s an accident two miles up the road. I can go a different direction and still get home in a faster time. Why would we not use that information?”
2013-’17: Poles works under Dorsey
The Chiefs bottomed out under Pioli's watch in 2012, going 2-14 and leaving no doubt that change was necessary.
New general manager John Dorsey retained Poles as a college scouting coordinator and brought an old-school approach to the Chiefs. Dorsey was a scout at heart who prioritized a detailed evaluation process. Kansas City found immediate success under his direction, producing a dramatic turnaround in 2013 that included an 11-5 record and postseason berth.
“It was the evaluation process, it was collaboration,” Poles said of Dorsey’s work. “Everyone in the room, don’t read your report word for word – just talk football and then watch the tape. And we watched and watched and watched and watched. So, you can say he’s got great hands. But when we watch him and he’s dropping every ball, you’re going to get called out for that in a respectful way. But we’re not going to put that guy in a place where we thought he was because he can’t catch.
“You can find truth that way by watching a lot of tape, a lot of input. You have to structure the meetings the right way, set the rules. But all that tape watching also allows all your evaluators to grow because they watch hundreds of players more than what they would’ve if they just worried about their area or their concern or their needs.”
The Chiefs have had nine consecutive winning seasons since Dorsey was hired in 2013. He was fired in June 2017, just two months after the Chiefs made the bold move to trade up to No. 10 overall. With Poles then serving as director of college scouting, the Chiefs selected Mahomes at that No. 10 slot and never looked back.
2017-’21: Poles works under Veach
Dorsey's firing was sudden and unexpected, with the Chiefs growing concerned about his management style. They turned to his right-hand man in Brett Veach as their new general manager.
Like Dorsey, Veach saw value in Poles. He would twice promote Poles to greater roles, and the trust grew. Veach inherited a well-established roster from Dorsey and the expectation to sustain success. The Chiefs believed in Mahomes as a franchise quarterback, and he exceeded even the highest of expectations by proving to be a generational talent.
The challenge for Veach and Poles was to maintain a strong roster around Mahomes, whom the Chiefs signed to a record 10-year, $503-million deal in 2020. That meant Kansas City had to hit in the draft while finding bargains in free agency.
“We were in a different window in terms of how to build a team,” Poles said. “But (Veach was) just relentless on how to improve those areas of weakness. If it was trades, if it was moving up, moving down, if it was attacking free agency, he just did that differently. He never stops thinking, coming up with ideas and being creative.”
Poles was promoted by Veach to assistant director of player personnel in 2019 and then to executive director of personnel in 2021 as the Chiefs prepared him to become a general manager.
2022: Poles is named Bears general manager
As he went through each individual who has helped him over the years – Pioli, Dorsey, Veach, coach Andy Reid, current Colts general manager Chris Ballad and more – Poles was suddenly overcome by emotion at his introductory press conference Monday. He stopped, fought back tears and composed himself.
Those 13 years with the Chiefs not only influenced him as a rising NFL scout and executive, it shaped him as a young man finding his place.
“I grew up with those guys,” Poles said. “We joked about it all the time, just in terms of starting at the very bottom and working up, and for a lot of them, I have deep relationships.
“When we first started, it was hard. It was really, really hard. It was difficult. There was a lot of losing, a lot of pushback. When you fight through something with people, you grow tight with them. When you have success with them, it’s even better. That’s what I look forward to doing here.
“Just pairing all that together and kind of making it my own and ours, I think it’s going to be successful.”
Chris Emma covers the Bears, Chicago’s sports scene and more for 670TheScore.com. Follow him on Twitter @CEmma670.