The Bears' 53-man roster a credit to GM Ryan Poles

The Bears' initial 53-man roster after cutdown day Sunday is a testament to the new reality at Halas Hall that this team belongs to head coach Ben Johnson — and to a lesser extent, defensive coordinator Dennis Allen.

Of the 53 players on the active roster, only 20 of them were on the Bears' roster when Johnson was hired as head coach just 19 months ago (plus cornerbacks Kyler Gordon and Jaylon Jones and linebacker Noah Sewell on the PUP/IR lists). That's a significant amount of roster turnover in such a short period of time without a general manager change, and further evidence that GM Ryan Poles — admirably and perhaps necessarily — has taken a half-step down on the organizational chart at Halas Hall.

It's standard practice for a GM to acquire talent to fit the scheme of his coordinators — and both Johnson and Allen have a solid track record of knowing the kind of player who best fits his scheme. But the roster flux since Johnson and Allen were hired has been unusually stark, with productive players like safeties Kevin Byard and Jaquan Brisker, linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and defensive tackle Gervon Dexter out the door, in addition to Poles' share of out-and-out misses.

Let's put it this way: Of Poles' seven Day 2 draft picks in three seasons with Matt Eberflus as head coach (2022-24), only cornerback Tyrique Stevenson (second round, 56th overall in 2023) remains on the 53-man roster, and he's on shaky, prove-it ground entering his fourth NFL season. Gordon (2-39 in 2022) is a would-be keeper, but on even shakier ground after missing all of training camp/preseason with a mysterious calf injury that has him on the PUP (physically unable to perform) list entering the season — he'll miss at least the first four games of the regular season.

The other Day 2 picks: Brisker (2-48 in 2022), wide receiver Velus Jones (3-71 in 2022), defensive tackles Dexter (2-53 in 2023) and Zacch Pickens (3-64 in 2023) and offensive tackle Kiran Amegadjie (3-75 in 2024). Though Jones is the most notable whiff in this group (though he won a Super Bowl ring with the Seahawks as a special teams player last season), Amegadjie might be the bigger miss — he couldn't even make it in Johnson's offense, which has maximized just about every player in it (including an undrafted free agent like Theo Benedet), especially players acquired in the first three rounds of the draft.

Already, Poles' record on Day 2 is looking better since Johnson was hired — wide receiver Luther Burden (2-39), offensive tackle Ozzy Trapilo (2-56) and defensive lineman Shemar Turner (2-62) in 2025 and center Logan Jones (2-57), tight end Sam Roush (3-69) and wide receiver Zavion Thomas (3-89) in 2026.

Burden and Trapilo were productive as rookies and Jones, Roush and Thomas all look better simply because they were hand-picked for Johnson's offense — and the preseason did nothing to diminish that optimism for any of them.

And it supports the notion that Johnson is the driving force at Halas Hall — making Caleb Williams a better quarterback and Poles a better general manager in addition to changing the "culture" (whatever that is) throughout the organization.

The recent cutdown to 53 ignited a mini-debate over Poles' influence on this roster, with my good friend Herb Howard of @thebigsmedia arguing that Poles is a victim of a double standard in which Ben Johnson gets credit for all the favorable roster moves, and Poles gets the blame for the unfavorable ones.

That might be true on the fringes of social media, but not in the world of credible Bears conversation. Johnson's offense is his baby — much more than most coordinators on either side of the ball in the NFL — and he gets the credit and blame for every move on offense. In 2025, his record was virtually spotless. The seven players acquired to be starters or key contributors were on the plus side — guard Joe Thuney, Loveland, center Drew Dalman, Burden, guard Jonah Jackson, Trapilo and running back Kyle Monangai.

It's on defense where Poles gets more scrutiny and that's where most of the disappointment and underperformance has been in the Ben Johnson era. The three defensive players who were acquired to be starters who key contributors were flat at best in 2025 — defensive tackle Grady Jarrett, defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo and rookie defensive tackle Shemar Turner. (Even considering their season-ending injuries, both Odeyingbo and Turner underperformed in 2025.) And it was Poles (not Johnson) who was credited with finding cornerback Nahshon Wright and other fill-ins who helped fortify a shaky defense in 2025.

Nobody's picking on Poles. The reality is that Ben Johnson is making him a better general manager. Before Johnson was hired, Poles' veteran offensive line acquisitions were Nate Davis, Lucas Patrick, Ryan Bates and Coleman Shelton. After hiring Johnson, his veteran offensive line acquisitions were Joe Thuney, Drew Dalman and Jonah Jackson. How did he get so much smarter that quickly?

And there's a similar effect in the draft, where Poles acquired Wright and Williams in the first round before Johnson was hired, but also Velus Jones, Zacch Pickens and Amegadjie in the third round.

This year's draft provides a good test of the difference Johnson is making for Poles. In his first draft as the Bears' GM in 2022, Poles reached in the third round (No. 75 overall) for Jones, an intriguing offensive weapon with his speed and versatility who was cut six games into his third season in 2024. This year, Poles reached in the third round (on paper, anyway) for Stanford tight end Sam Roush, who was expected to go from No. 85-138 in various mock drafts, but was taken 69th overall by the Bears.

Roush is on the other end of the prospect spectrum (but not the opposite end) from Jones — an overachiever, a willing and accomplished blocker, athletic but unspectacular. But on a team already with two quality tight ends in Loveland and Cole Kmet, Johnson had to have him. Based on Johnson's track record with the Lions and Bears, that speaks volumes.

It'll be interesting to see which third-round pick turns into the better third-round draft pick for Poles — Jones or Roush. There's a long way to go, but it's already trending in Roush's direction. And that comparison doesn't include the Bears' more intriguing third-round pick, wide receiver Zavion Thomas, who evoked comparisons to 2016 fifth-round pick Tyreek Hill of the Chiefs — and scored on a 97-yard touchdown on his very first snap in an NFL preseason game.

The upshot is that the Bears' resurgence has been fueled by Johnson, and if the Bears have done anything right — besides hiring Johnson — it's letting him take the wheel at the appropriate time. That might be Ryan Poles' biggest impact of all as the Bears GM.

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