NFL Combine: 4 things we learned from Ryan Poles, Matt Eberflus

INDIANAPOLIS – The offseason unofficially has kicked off with the NFL Scouting Combine this week. Representatives from all 32 NFL teams have converged on downtown Indianapolis to have a look at the top prospects in this year’s draft.

New Bears general manager Ryan Poles and new coach Matt Eberflus met with the media Tuesday for the first time since they were introduced about a month ago. Although GMs and coaches are particularly secretive this time of year, there still was much to glean from Poles’ and Eberflus’ sessions.

Here are the major takeaways from Tuesday.

1. For the players, everything is a blank slate

For players who fought for playing time under former GM Ryan Pace and former coach Matt Nagy, this is a new beginning. Poles and Eberflus both referenced it. Eberflus spent the past month reaching out to every player under contract and letting them know just that.

“I think a lot of the guys, this is a clean slate for them,” Eberflus said. “We’re starting knew, and I told a lot of the guys, ‘Hey, you’re walking on fresh grass here.’ This is a new staff. New systems. You have to learn [the system]. You’ve got to dive into it, and you’ve got to put everything you have into it.”

Poles said that coming into a new situation with a new organization gives him a chance to look at the team without any preconceived notions about his players, which is a good thing for a talent evaluator.

“You see it for what it is,” Poles said. “Some of the bias and opinions from the past don’t water down your evaluations. You see it for what the tape is telling you.”

2. Darnell Mooney has won over the GM

Poles has been on the job about a month. Asked who has impressed him during that time, Poles singled out wide receiver Darnell Mooney, who was the team’s leading receiver in 2021.

“He’s got a quiet confidence about him,” Poles said. “He’s hungry to be special. I’m always looking for guys [who are] just raising their own bar in terms of where they want to go. He wants to be special. You can feel that in him.”

Poles noted that the Bears need more players like that.

“If everyone has that mentality, and they keep pushing each other, then all of a sudden the team starts to raise the bar and standard,” Poles said.

3. Expect the O-line to become more athletic

Poles wants his offensive line to be a little bit lighter than the Bears were last year, a little bit quicker. The way NFL offenses move the ball these days, simply being big isn’t good enough anymore for an offensive lineman.

“We’re going to change it up a little bit just in terms of the style,” Poles said. “A lot of those guys, and the message has been clear, we’ve got to change body types a little bit. We’ve got to get lighter, we’ve got to get quicker.”

Poles said it’s too soon to say who will play at which positions on the offensive line. The Bears have ample options, especially with young tackles Larry Borom and Teven Jenkins.

4. Luke Getsy is first and foremost a teacher

Eberflus believes Luke Getsy will be successful as the Bears’ offensive coordinator because of his teaching skills. The head coach is leaving a lot on his 38-year-old OC’s plate, but he’s not worried about handing off too much.

Getsy’s relationship with quarterback Justin Fields might well be the most important relationship in Halas Hall over the coming years.

“Everybody’s going to be a leader at some point, and everybody needs to follow at some point,” Eberflus said. “We certainly wanted to look at those attributes, and one of those is being a teacher. Being a teacher in our system, it doesn’t matter – offense, defense or kicking – that’s the first quality we looked for. If you can’t take your message from the board and put it onto the players and then take it to the field, that’s what we want to have with each guy.”

Eberflus said Getsy’s style and teaching ability has stood out through numerous “lengthy” conversations.