Bears Officially Hire Chiefs Exec. Ryan Poles As New GM

January 25, 2022

The Chicago Bears announced Tuesday that they’ve officially hired Chiefs Executive Director of Player Personnel Ryan Poles as their new general manager.

“We are thrilled to be able to add someone of Ryan’s background and football expertise to our organization,” said Bears Chairman George H. McCaskey. “His accomplishments with the Chiefs speak for themselves and amplified the team’s standing as one of the premier franchises in professional sports. We are confident that under his leadership, we will reach our goal of bringing a Super Bowl championship to Chicago.”

“I am extremely grateful to George, the McCaskey family and the rest of the Bears organization for this opportunity,” Poles said. “The Chicago Bears are one of the flagship franchises in the National Football League and are recognized as one of the most prestigious clubs in all of sports. It’s an honor for me to join such a well-regarded organization. Together with my family, I’m looking forward to hitting the ground running to help get this organization, its fanbase and the city what they deserve: a winning team and a Super Bowl trophy.”

Reports from earlier in the day mentioned that the Bears were finalizing a deal with Poles, so this shouldn’t be a big surprise.

Here’s the full list of candidates for the job:

Chiefs executive director of player personnel Ryan Poles (Hired)
Patriots executive consultant Eliot Wolf (Finalist)
Titans director of player personnel Monti Ossenfort (Finalist)
Browns VP of Player Personnel Glenn Cook (Interviewed)
Browns VP of football operations Kwesi Adofo-Mensah (Interviewed)
Colts assistant GM Ed Dodds (Interviewed)
Saints’ assistant GM Jeff Ireland (Interviewed)
Bills assistant GM Joe Schoen (Interviewed)
Bears assistant director of player personnel Champ Kelly (Interviewed)
Dolphins senior personnel executive Reggie McKenzie (Interviewed)
49ers director of player personnel Ran Carthon (Interviewed)
Colts director of college scouting Morocco Brown (Interviewed)
Steelers VP Omar Khan (Interviewed)
Chargers Director of Player Personnel JoJo Wooden (Interviewed)
Former Texans GM Rick Smith

Poles, 36, joined the Chiefs as a scouting assistant in 2009. He’s risen through the ranks, becoming the director of college scouting in 2017 and adding assistant director of player personnel to his title in 2018.

He was also considered a finalist for the New York Giants general manager job, but they hired Joe Schoen on Friday. Poles was also in the mix for the Vikings’ job.