Ryan Poles reveals one of the most difficult obstacles he’s faced in his career

Ryan Poles reveals one of the most difficult obstacles he’s faced in his career originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago

Bears GM Ryan Poles has jumped through a lot of hoops to get to where he is today in his NFL executive career.

It started by being cut by the Bears in 2008 as an undrafted free agent out of Boston College. Following his short-lived playing career, he returned to his alma mater as a graduate assistant in recruiting.

In 2009, Poles jumpstarted his NFL executive career as a scouting assistant with the Kansas City Chiefs. He spent 13 seasons in Kansas City, serving as a college scouting coordinator, the director of college scouting, assistant director of player personnel, and executive director of player personnel.

He landed his first general manager position with the Bears in 2022. But not before he faced hardships during the tail end of his journey to becoming an NFL GM.

“One of the hardest moments I had was not getting the Carolina [Panthers] job,” Poles said on the “Excellent Leadership Podcast.” “That was my first interview. And I thought I did really well. I prepared really well. You know you kinda feel like you’re in the zone when you go through the interview process. It started with Zoom then it was in person.

“It’s not talked about much but you come up with this philosophy based on your experience and you share how you want to go about changing this organization and putting them in a really good position. And when you don’t get the job, you go back to your old job, you’ve already mentally put yourself in a leadership position, especially in the GM job.

“And then you have to go back to the old philosophy. You’re basically like ‘Alright, I took these good things from what we do now. I don’t like these things so I’m gonna toss that out.’ But you gotta go live in that and you’ve gotta be supportive to your group.”

Poles is talking about his interviews with the Panthers during the 2021 NFL offseason. About 12 seasons into his NFL front office career, and he hadn’t landed the opportunity to take control of his own ship.

Thinking he performed well during an interview to become the Panthers GM, he was wrong. He didn’t get the job. And Poles said the failure weighed on him when he returned to his post in Kansas City the next season.

“It was the first time I felt like mental health, disappointment, frustration,” Poles said. “I had a lot of that when I returned back to Kansas City. It was eye-opening. It allowed me to start putting the structure together, an executive coach clinician to tap into and express some of these feelings I was going through.

“Because I didn’t feel like I was a great teammate to my group when I got back. I was more angry and frustrated because, you know, I had this great plan and now I don’t get to do it.”

From there, Poles said he went on a personal growth journey to figure out what he was missing. He partnered with his agent to fill the gaps in his NFL knowledge.

Poles mentioned he wanted to learn the ins and outs from a performance, analytics, and sports science standpoint. Whenever his next GM interview came along, he wanted to sharpen the tools he had in the shed.

He reflected on his career and the interview he did with the Panthers. But he also took it upon himself to visit a friend in pro sports to round out his skillset.

“I really just took time to kinda sit and meditate and think back on the interview process to where I think I just didn’t answer the questions comfortably,” Poles said. “And really, those (three) spots were the performance side of things, sports science and also the analytics part of it.

“So [I] put a plan together in the offseason, went to see a friend with the Yankees and spent time with them and got to know their performance team, asked a lot of questions. How did they set up their group? What things were they looking at in terms of innovation? Where are they going next with it?”

After the 2022 season, Poles had more interviews lined up for general manager positions. He admitted on the podcast he interviewed with the Vikings and Giants. The Bears were the last to call him.

“I was excited,” Poles said of his interviews. “I felt like there was a really good opportunity for me to get one of these jobs. I thought it was really cool to come full circle and be back in Chicago in the Bears building and try to get it right.

“The interview process was so much smoother and less stressful. I was prepared, not only with the materials and the plan but I was prepared emotionally and mentally. It was almost like I’m gonna present who I am, what I know. If that connects with you, then great. If not, we’ll keep it moving.

“I felt like I had the right mindset going into that process.”

That’s when the pieces of the puzzle began to line up for Poles. Chairman George McCaskey picked him up from the airport for his interview. That stood out to Poles. Usually, a car service picked him up for his interview.

Poles and McCaskey talked football and the history of the Bears during their drive to Lake Forest. Poles admired how much football and the Bears meant to the chairman. But he still didn’t know how the interview was going to go with the team.

But he started to loosen up once he got to Halas Hall.

“It was really cool coming into this office and seeing an empty office,” Poles said. “Now I’m starting to put myself here in that chair. I knew it was just a really cool opportunity. Just being a historical franchise, it was just like this feels right.

“I didn’t know the next day was gonna play out in the interview process. But it just felt right. I had a lot of confidence going into that interview feeling like I was the right person for this job.”

Poles said the interview went smoother than his past GM interviews. The Bears asked him to wait outside after his interview. When they invited him back into the office, they offered him the position.

Poles didn’t even leave the office after his interview.

“It was incredible,” Poles said. “It was more of like ‘Alright, let’s go to work.’ There was no time. I didn’t even want time to celebrate. I wanted to go to work. I wanted to get the right people in. … It was let’s go right now.”

Of course, Poles got his payback on Carolina. After acquiring the No. 1 pick in the 2023 NFL Draft, Poles opted to trade it to the Panthers, who selected Alabama quarterback Bryce Young.

In return, Poles yielded his team a haul. They received wide receiver DJ Moore, their 2023 first-round pick (Darnell Wright), a 2023 second-round pick (CB Tyrique Stevenson), a 2024 first-round pick (QB Caleb Williams) and a 2025 second-round pick.

It’s looking like one of the best trades in Chicago Bears franchise history. So, not only do Bears fans have the Panthers to thank for gifting the Bears that haul, but they also have them to thank for passing on Poles as their GM.

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