What we learned as Bears get Fields help in 2023 NFL Draft

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LAKE FOREST, Ill. -- Ryan Poles' offseason odyssey started with earning the No. 1 pick and finally ended Saturday when the Bears concluded the 2023 NFL Draft with six selections.

When the dust settled, the Bears added 10 players over three days:

-- OT Darnell Wright
-- DT Gervon Dexter Sr.
-- CB Tyrique Stevenson
-- DT Zacch Pickens
-- RB Roschon Johnson
-- WR Tyler Scott
-- LB Noah Sewell
-- CB Terell Smith
-- DT Travis Bell
-- S Kendall Williamson

It's a class built on traits, traits, and more traits.

None of the Bears' 10 draft picks had a Relative Athletic Score lower than 8.0.

"I wanted to get bigger, faster," Poles said Saturday after the draft wrapped up. "I wanted to find areas that we needed to get better and put players that we think can impact the game in those spaces and help us get better. I think we’ve done that."

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Poles said he'd cap off his whirlwind offseason with a glass of Jefferson Ocean's bourbon. As Poles prepares to kick back and examine the latest fruits of his reconstruction project, here are the key takeaways from the three-day draft flurry at Halas Hall.

Favorite Pick

Roschon Johnson/Tyler Scott

Darnell Wright is the layup here, but I'll save him for a different category.

Johnson and Scott were both guys I had earmarked for the Bears in the pre-draft process. I thought both would be gone before Day 3 started.

But slid into the fourth round, and the Bears snapped up two prospects they loved throughout the pre-draft process.

"This was a guy I was shocked that he was still on the board," Poles said of Johnson. "He is a really good football player that I know is gonna be successful in this league in many different ways.

"The cool thing is if you watch Texas tape, he does a lot. He pass protects really well. That stands out. He’s done some quarterback stuff. He came out of high school as a quarterback. So this is going to allow our offensive staff to maybe do some really cool things with him and keep a defense on their toes.”

Johnson is a strong, powerful back who broke 46 tackles in 2022 at Texas. He will be the perfect long-term complement to Khalil Herbert in the Bears' backfield.

"He’s someone we really feel compelled can become a pillar of this organization for a really long time," Bears scout John Syty said of Johnson.

In Scott, the Bears get a former Junior Olympian who can absolutely fly. The Cincinnati Bearcat's size, speed, and versatility reminds some draft analysts of T.Y. Hilton. Scott is a dynamic, fluid athlete who can reach his top speed in the blink.

Ten of Scott's 14 career touchdowns were of 30 or more yards. Scott can play outside and in the slot. His ability to stretch the defense vertically should open up the intermediate area of the field for Darnell Mooney and DJ Moore.

"Continues to help our receiving corps go vertical, stretch the field, which again matches our quarterback’s skill set," Poles said of Scott. "And it’s gonna help us be more explosive which is important in this game."

Johnson and Scott were two players I loved during the pre-draft process, and I think they can both be long-term fixtures of this rebuild.

Immediate Impact

Darnell Wright

There's no question about this.

Wright is a 6-foot-5, 330 pounds, violent bulldozer who will be a Day 1 starter at right tackle.

Last season, the combination of Larry Borom and Riley Reiff gave up eight sacks and 32 pressures at right tackles. In his final season at Tennessee, Wright gave up just eight pressures and zero sacks while allowing a pressure rate of just 1.7 percent.

In a draft class with four elite prospects, the Bears identified Wright as the top tackle and also believe he has the biggest upside of the group.

Wright is the key piece in the Bears' offseason mission to provide help for Fields. That's a mission the rookie understands will require his full attention.

"That's my job. That's what I do," Wright told NBC Sports Chicago. "If you hire security to keep them out the club, I guess I'll keep them out."

Wright's draft stock started to rise when he stonewalled Alabama's Will Anderson last season. He also authored perfect games (zero pressures allowed) against LSU and Georgia while playing Clemson's Bryan Bressee to a draw.

The Bears' offensive line was abysmal in 2022. Wright's arrival automatically gives them an alpha and an identity.

"Big, athletic guy. Physical," Poles said of Wright. "The one thing that stands out with him is he's a tone-setter. He plays with an edge to him, which we love. We want more of.

"He’s a nasty dude who when you watch the tape and are like, alright, we’ve got to play the Bears next week, you go – OK, this is going to be a long day."

That's the definition of an immediate-impact guy.

Head-scratcher

Gervon Dexter Sr.

The Bears entered the draft in desperate need of defensive line help. But without a pick between 10 and 53, the Bears could not grab any of the top-tier edge rushers.

When they went on the clock at No. 53, they reached for Florida defensive tackle Gervon Dexter Sr.

Like all of the Bears' draft picks, Dexter is an athletic marvel. At 6-foot-6, 310 pounds with power, explosion, and speed, Dexter looks like he was built in a lab to wreck opposing offenses for Bears head coach Matt Eberflus.

But the production doesn't match the traits.

Last season at Florida, Dexter only notched four tackles for loss and two sacks for the Gators.

The Bears are betting that Dexter's best football is ahead of them. That they can mold him into a disruptive three-technique.

For Poles, the Dexter selection was about flash and potential. Given the state of the Bears' defensive line, it's important his gamble pays off.

Biggest Remaining Question

So, what about the edge rushers?

The edge rushers were probably the deepest position in the 2023 class.

The Bears selected zero.

Not having the No. 32 overall pick due to the Chase Claypool trade cost them a chance to add an impact edge rusher. They passed on USC's Tuli Tuipulotu and Clemson's K.J. Henry.

Poles selected three interior defensive linemen and now must find a way to give the Bears some juice off the edge.

"I think you want to fix everything immediately but it’s got to work the right way," Poles said of the Bears not finding an edge rusher. "The right players got to be there that fit our scheme. They want to be here. So, we can’t fix everything at a high level in one swoop. So we are aware of our strengths and weaknesses and we’re going to be opportunistic. That’s why we’ve done what we’ve done and we still have flexibility to do what we need to do to improve in different areas and if that’s the area that we improve moving forward we do. If that opportunity doesn’t open up, then we’ll just continue to do what we’re doing but there’s also drafts next year and we’ve set ourselves up nicely for that, too.”

The Bears have $36.7 million in cap space, and veterans Yannick Ngakoue, Leonard Floyd, Justin Houston, and Frank Clark remain available. There's a chance that Carl Lawson will become a cap casualty in New York.

Whatever it is, the Bears must do something to fortify the edge rusher spot before Week 1.

Big Takeaway

Operation Get Justin Help Is Successful

It's imperative that the Bears exit the 2023 season with a complete evaluation of Fields. They have to know if they want to pick up his fifth-year option and if he's worth the long-term, big-money contract that comes with being a franchise quarterback.

In order to get that evaluation, the supporting cast around Fields had to improve. The Bears needed to patch the holes in the line and add explosive weapons to the arsenal.

They have done that.

They traded for wide receiver DJ Moore, added Wright and guard Nate Davis to the offensive line, and signed tight end Robert Tonyan and running back D'Onta Foreman. Poles capped it off by adding a  vertical speedster in Scott and a powerful back in Johnson on Saturday.

"You want to support your quarterback because that’s where it starts, so you want to surround him with talent," Poles said when asked about the offensive improvements. "I had to wait a little bit to do it the way I wanted to do it and the way we wanted to do it. I think we found some good opportunities to do that. Solidified and improved the O-line, make sure that we have the running game to stay balanced, and then give him different types of receivers and different threats to create separation from the tight ends to receivers, so more big plays can be made, and you can grow your confidence and get in a rhythm.

"It's got to come together but I feel like on paper write now I feel like we've done a really good job to surround him with the talent."

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