Chicago Bears Free Agency: Another Low Cost Signing by Ryan Poles

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles continued his search for bargain-basement deals and found another one.

Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles continued his search for bargain-basement deals and found another one. He signed offensive lineman Dakota Dozier.

There were hopes that Poles could get Buffalo Bills offensive lineman Ryan Bates. Poles brought him into Halas Hall for a visit but apparently nothing materialized. Poles went out and signed Dakota Dozier instead.

The 6-foot-4, 312 pound Dozier was the New York Jets’ fourth-round pick in 2014. He later signed with the Minnesota Vikings in 2019. He appeared in 76 games in his career, starting 27 of them.

Dozier’s best season was in 2020. He played all 1,084 snaps that season for Minnesota. However, he followed that up by spending most of the 2021 season on the practice squad. Of the just 25 snaps he did play, all of them were on special teams.

It’s understandable to keep in mind that not all signings are meant to be blockbusters. A general manager can make signings and keep those players as backups. In this case, however, Dozier is a player that went from starting every game and playing every snap to being a practice squad player and only seeing time on special teams.

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Poles continues looking in the scrap heap

Poles stated that he didn’t want to overspend on free agency. One thing is being thrifty but what he’s doing is different, though. He keeps looking at the bottom of the barrel looking for deals.

Poles now has eight free agent signings. Of those, six were drafted in the sixth round or were undrafted. All of them have something to prove. They collectively haven’t done much over the past few seasons.

Poles keeps adding players who might have chips on their shoulders. They’ll play harder and do whatever it takes to try to win. However, there needs to be some talent as well. There hasn’t been a team with a bunch of players with underwhelming results that suddenly turned a team into a winner.

Therein lies a problem. The 2022 season is a throwaway. Poles and the Bears don’t want to come out and say it but that’s exactly what it is. Poles is signing players to one or two-year deals. Even the two-year deals won’t cost anything to get out. He is putting all his eggs into the 2023 basket.

No, he hasn’t overspent. It’s easy to not overspend when you don’t have a ton of money to spend. Poles had about $30 million to spend and has just under that now. He has near;y $128 million to spend in 2023. How will he spend that money?

Poles claimed that the offensive line was a priority. He was upset at how badly the unit played in 2021. Well, he hasn’t done much to improve that line. His biggest pickup, Lucas Patrick, will be a full-time starting center for the first time in his career. Yes, he played there before, but as a fill-in because of an injury to the starter.

If we can all accept that Dozier isn’t starting material, then we’ll see that the Bears still need a starting right guard. James Daniels walked and there still isn’t a replacement. It looks as if Poles is going with Teven Jenkins as the starting left tackle despite a very limited rookie season. He suffered a back injury that kept him out most of the season. Also, he didn’t play much at left tackle in college so he’s learning on the fly.

Eric Fisher, a former Pro Bowl left tackle, is still available. It doesn’t seem that Poles is interested, however.

How bad is it for the offensive line at the moment? Well, Willie Wright, who signed a futures contract with Chicago in February, is now listed as the starting right guard.

Yes, Poles is just starting out as general manager. However, he needs to be honest about what the 2022 season really is. He tried to inspire excitement with each signing when there isn’t much to be had. We will see another struggling Chicago Bears team on the field and hope that Poles hits it big in 2023.

How does all this help in Justin Fields‘ development? I am asking for a tired fanbase.