Ryan Poles Is SPECIAL! Chicago Bears Hard Knocks Takeaways Ft. Velus Jones Trade Offer

Ryan poles is [Music] special this is Bears Now by chat sports I'm Harrison Graham let's get into a little Hard Knox finale reaction if you joined us live last night I appreciate it but we know not everybody had watched the episode by then Ryan Po's starred in the series finale I thought I thought he was the biggest winner he was the one who stood out the most and uh you know something I appreciated about this year's Hard Knocks was they showed some of the cuts they they hadn't done that the last couple years the Jets refused to do it and the Bears allowed that access and allowed some of that to be shown and uh I was appreciative that they did and we got to see a different side to some of these guys especially with Ryan poles and I think something that really stands out is this guy has special leadership traits special leadership traits um I I think most Bears fans by now really like what he done in terms of rebuilding the roster a lot of guys can evaluate talent but not a lot of guys can evaluate talent build a team but also build those special relationships and it's clear when you watch this guy that he has all of that and I I think if you're a Bears fan you should feel really comfortable and confident that the right guy is in charge and I just kind of want to go through some of the highlights of this episode early on first scene of the final episode they're you know looking at their big board talking about the roster bubble and you know they they mentioned a few names veis ready Stewart a couple of other guys and um you know polls was kind of blunting to the point he said yes we want to keep everybody but we're not in that space anymore it's time to win and I think that's just kind of the evolution of this team is you know two years ago would have been easy to keep a ready Stewart would have been easy to keep an Adrien Colbert we'll talk about him in a little bit um but now and he said it before training camp it's going to be hard to make this team cutting guys is going to be more difficult this year because they've built that depth but he has the emotional intelligence to uh understand that this is what you have to do when you are a general manager I thought this sign on the wall and Flo referenced it uh when they were having a conversation uh was was kind kind of fun and pretty cool to to to see the interaction and they showed it a couple times throughout the episode when they had to make these tough decisions and it said sometimes the right way is the hardest way and it's isn't that true for all of us in life like the hard decisions are usually the most important ones they're usually the right ones to make like it's easy to to do something with little consequence right like it's easy to um to go to sleep at night or something like that but having to make a tough decision take a you know choose a tough job offer compared to another one or choosing where to go to college or whatever it is in your life you know if it feels tough if it feels hard it's probably right and I think uh that was kind of symbolic of what this episode was and you saw that with Adrien colber and and this was an emotional part of the episode uh they had showed some of the other cuts and obviously poles and flu they and Cunningham like they cared and they showed sympathy but they were kind of to the point like hey we got to cut you um you know best of luck yada y y but he Embraces Colbert and he did this one on his own for about 30 seconds then he had to walk out of the room and come back and I thought this was a snippet of what he said and he's fighting back tears as he says it he says I appreciate you there's something about you that's different I hate that we have to do this there's people you root for and you're one of them and I don't see how anybody could watch that scene in that moment and just not feel that intensity and feel that emotion like that was authentic that was real he had to walk out of the room after hugging Colbert before he told him the news because he was literally fighting back tears it it was it was tough to watch but I think important to watch and to understand and earlier in the episode Po's in his little interview with the Hard Knock producers was like I was cut from this building in 2008 like I know what it feels like so we try to do our best to you know be articulate when we tell them why they're being cut and explain why the decision was being made and that that was tough to watch like I I felt that emotion uh when watching it and I thought Colbert was was such a about it and Adrien Colbert has been on 10 teams in eight NFL seasons of his career he's bounced around rosters practice squads he said playing for the Bears is the most impressive organization he's ever been a part of his favorite one in his career and I for one wish him the best he's still a free agent we'll see uh where things go but uh for him personally but I think to not to get too caught up in the emotion though the balance that polls can show and displayed in this episode of like hey I really care about these guys but ultimately and he's said this he's used this quote many a times doing what's best for the Chicago Bears like it's easy to let your emotions dictate a decision I'm sure you've been guilty of that one of you watching I've been guilty of it but when you're a GM you got to balance that emotion understand sympathy but also put the team together the best way you know how and that that's the sign of a true leader of like you don't want a guy that's emotionless like you don't want to work for someone who doesn't care like there's nothing worse than that right like you want to have someone in your corner that believes in you and cares about you you may not do enough you may not be the best of what you do which clearly Adrien Colbert bouncing around he's kind of been a fringe NFL player in his career but to show the care you have for a guy like that because he did everything he could to make this team I thought was important but like PS told me he's like look you did everything you were supposed to do it just wasn't quite enough it's more about hey this team's just pretty damn good now like that's just that's just where it is so I think the culture on this team is real I I I think my biggest takeaway from watching this show is like this feels different like this team is put together like imagine if this was last year right if we had Hard Knocks last year and you're you're seeing the claypole mess and all this other stuff Allen Williams like this this this team is tight-knit I I think that's pretty obvious at this point in time and don't take my word for it take Brett rippen's word for it who got cut and got signed by the Vikings but still on the way to the airport hardnox uh had a camera on him in the car and he was just kind of yapping and chopping it up and was very appreciative of his time with the Bears and he said this team is going to do special things this year there's a lot of special people in that building they're going to be great so I'm excited for them this is after this guy's been cut after he played well in the preseason and probably felt like he should have been on the roster you know polls and flu told him like look man we're keeping two you're the third guy if if there's not an opportunity out there we'd love you back on the practice squad obviously he found one in Minnesota so that's awesome and that allowed him to keep Austin Reed rippen also said I see a lot of myself in Austin Reed just a guy who comes in overlooked but works hard and shows some good things so for a guy who was only with the Bears for a few months gets cut after playing well and is heading to a team within the division to say those things I I think that speaks volumes I I really really do and uh I I think you should feel really good about the continuity of this team doesn't mean they're going to go win 12 games they still got to go execute and prove that on game days but these guys care about each other the coaches and players the front office they're all in sync and uh when you're on the same page if you blend that with the right talent and execution on game days that uh that really gives you a strong chance to go be a good football team grade Ryan poles as a leader ABC D or F I think he's an A+ leader I I think as a GM just based on uh roster moves he's probably in the a minus range he certainly had some misses but I I think his emotional intelligence is off the charts and uh that's the type of guy I would want to work for so uh kudos to polls I thought he was a star throughout the series but especially in the series finale couple other takeaways including some nuggets on veis Jones so stay tuned but first we are sponsored by game time if you want to go to the Bears season opener against the tit on Sunday uh get your tickets with game time uh game time has made it easy uh to uh go watch your favorite teams play I love going to live sporting events concerts and 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game time get started what time is it it's game time football's back you guys should get going to your favorite events all right veis Jones it was a lot of alas talk in this episode about him making this roster impressing the coaches you had Chad Morton Shane Waldren fighting for him saying he needs to be on this football team but then it was revealed that another team which they didn't say which team but another team called the Bears about trading for veos Jones so if you're one of those people who was like I'm tired of veis let's get rid of veis and that was kind of my attitude a little coming into the series not straight up get rid of him but like he better show me something to make this team and I said it last night and I'll say it here he earned a roster spot polls revealed in this episode it would have had to have at least been a fourth uh for him to trade him uh he did say that would be tremendous value considering the two seasons he hasn't done that much and they drafted him in the third if you got a fourth back I mean that's that's kind of a win uh so clearly they didn't get that trade offer it was probably fifth or really a sixth if I had to guess um it's pretty obvious that the Bears are excited about vos's progress at the running back position and what he can do for this team moving forward Richard Hightower uh spoke to his ability as a kick returner he's improved as a Gunner he said he can play on all the Special Teams units and um Chad Morton and Shane Waldren both like what he's brought to the table at running back and that really got me thinking because they're crowded in this room I'm not really factoring Travis Homer I don't expect him to get any snaps offensively frankly but where does veis fit I I think first things first the the the depth chart release listing veis at receiver sure he might get the occasional snap out there but he's more of a running back at this point I think that's pretty obvious from this episode um but if they're not trading him like a pick was on the table is he gonna take snaps from Roshan or Herbert like that it just makes me wonder like if they wanted to keep him a guy that you know probably going into training camp was firmly on the bubble and as a receiver might have been on the outside looking in like do they think he can do some damage like is he going to get real opportunities because I expect DeAndre Swift to play a lot so the secondary snaps for other running backs aren't going to be a ton I don't think I would think Herbert's the number two at least initially but we haven't seen Roshan in a while veis Jones take his snaps I don't know it's interesting and uh it's something I'm going to be monitoring early on this season because they kept veis for a reason and I don't think it's to return four kickoffs a game I I I think that's part of it but I got to think he's going to be super valuable on special teams and bring something to the table offensively otherwise probably just trade him right that's that's kind of how I see it would you have traded veis for a fifth round pick I think we all agree for a fourth you would have done that like I I I mean even as as much progress as he showed in Camp like if a fourth was on the table I'm making that move fifth kind of borderline cuz I am eager and excited about what he showed type y for S Type in for no I probably still would have said yes especially if Ian wheeler hadn't gotten hurt obviously he did maybe that plays a role uh but uh for a fifth I probably still what have sixth or seventh I'm probably keeping him in his explosiveness but curious what you guys think fifth round pick yes or no for veis Jones all right final thoughts and I kind of hit this earlier I I I think the uh the the chemistry of this team I think they're close the competition's been good uh the Caleb Williams practice edit Montage they did was pretty sweet by the way if you haven't seen that it's kind of been circulating on Twitter um he's been growing I love the outro scene of the uh when we're back in Chicago song and at the end Caleb puts his helmet on he's kind of talking to himself like let's get after it let's go and it's kind of like yeah it's game week let's go it's go time so uh I I haven't felt this confident about the Bears since covering this team uh I haven't felt this confident about the Bears probably since 2019 and obviously that team flopped but this feels different man feel feels different you got a GM you feel like you can trust sure Matt eberl like we got to see him prove that he can be a big- time coach but I think this was a good series and good off season for him as well definitely more of an unknown than polls at this point but I I like The Vibes I like the energy now it's about getting it done uh in these 17 games that's that's what it's going to come down to so there you have it putting a bow on Hard Knocks we'll be back later today with another episode so be sure to subscribe I think we're like 30 Subs away uh from 98,000 here on the channel so help us out first injury report will drop today as well so we'll dive into that on our next episode my name is Harrison Graham We will see you guys this afternoon [Music]