What Ryan Poles, Ben Johnson can accomplish at next week’s NFL combine

The NFL Scouting Combine begins Tuesday in Indianapolis. Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles and first-year head coach Ben Johnson are both expected to meet with members of the media during the combine.

This is a crucial week for their draft preparation. Poles and Johnson will have a chance to meet with many of the 329 prospects who the NFL invited to the event.

What exactly can they accomplish at the combine? Here are three things they can do this week.

1. Set offseason expectations

This will mark the first time either Poles or Johnson has spoken with the media since Johnson’s opening news conference on Jan. 22.

Not a single head coach or GM across the league is going to telegraph his team’s offseason intentions at such an early stage. Still, these media sessions will set the stage for what’s to come during free agency in March and the draft in April.

The Bears are in a favorable spot. The NFL just revised the salary cap number for 2025. Teams will be allowed to spend at least $277.5 million on player salaries (potentially as high as $281.5 million). With a projected $69 million in available cap space to play with, per OverTheCap.com, the Bears have the sixth-most money to spend among 32 teams.

The Bears also hold three draft selections among the top 41 picks (the 10th, 39th and 41st picks), and eight draft selections overall.

With that much cap flexibility and several premium draft picks, the Bears can approach this offseason in any number of ways.

2. Begin rebuilding the offensive line

It’s no secret that the one position group that needs the most work on the Bears' roster in 2025 is the offensive line. It’s possible only one or two starters from 2024 will return in 2025.

If Johnson and Poles want it to be, the O-line could essentially be a blank slate.

Nobody would be surprised, then, if the Bears spend a lot of their interview time next week meeting with some of the draft’s top offensive line prospects. With the No. 10 overall pick, the team is in position to grab one of the draft’s best offensive linemen, if Poles and Johnson decide to go that direction.

Key prospect names to watch include LSU tackle Will Campbell, Ohio State tackle Josh Simmons, Texas tackle Kelvin Banks Jr., Alabama guard Tyler Booker and versatile Missouri lineman Armand Membou, to name a few.

What they ultimately decide to do in the draft, though, will have to work in tandem with what they do in free agency first.

The negotiating window for free agency opens March 10 and teams can officially begin signing players on March 12.

3. Don’t forget about the other line

Everything about the coming years will be about maximizing quarterback Caleb Williams' potential. That’s why rebuilding the offensive line is so important.

But a thriving defense will be any quarterback’s best friend. This offseason could – and maybe should – focus on the trenches. Certainly, the biggest contracts and the highest draft picks feel destined for the offensive and defensive lines.

The Bears' defensive line in 2024 was too top-heavy. When defensive end Montez Sweat and defensive tackles Gervon Dexter and Andrew Billings were all healthy and playing together early in the season, that group looked formidable.

But when Billings went down with a season-ending injury midway through the year, it exposed the lack of depth behind those three front-line starters.

If the offensive line is priority No. 1, the defensive line certainly looks like priority No. 2. The Bears need to find a consistent pass rushing threat to play opposite Sweat, who struggled down the stretch in 2024.

In three drafts in charge of the Bears, Poles hasn’t taken a big swing on an edge rusher. The highest the Bears have selected an edge rusher under Poles is the fifth round. That could change this year if the Bears target one with any of those three picks in the top 41.