After drafting quarterback Justin Fields at No. 11 overall last year, the Bears replaced their General Manager and head coach, bringing in Ryan Poles and Matt Eberflus.
Chicago hasn’t made many notable additions during the offseason, though the club did trade edge rusher Khalil Mack to the Chargers. And former receiver Allen Robinson signed with the Rams.
While the club signed receivers Byron Pringle and Equanimeous St. Brown, neither has ever been as productive as a player like Robinson.
Still, Poles said on Monday that there’s a balance to building a team while also surrounding a young QB like Fields with the best weapons.
“I want to give him everything I possibly can, but you still have to construct an entire team. You can’t go blank in one area and then just load up in one area,” Poles said at the annual league meeting, via Courtney Cronin of ESPN. “We’re always going to be aggressive to get him the tools that he needs to be successful, it’s just the timing and the talent level and the cap situation, all of those are going to dictate when we can go and when we can’t go.
“But I think what we’ve done so far is at least establish a little bit of growth in the roster, plus the scheme with the coaching, I see him getting better even from what we did right now.”
Fields displayed some flashes as a rookie, but there’s also clear room for improvement. He completed 59 percent of his passes fort 1,870 yards with seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions in 12 appearances with 10 starts. He also rushed for 420 yards with a pair of touchdowns in 2021.