Kansas City Chiefs Executive Director of Player Personnel Ryan Poles was a finalist for the New York Giants GM job. While he was passed over for that job, he remains a finalist for two other general manager openings in the NFL.
According to reports from both NFL Network and ESPN, Poles is set for second interviews with both the Chicago Bears and the Minnesota Vikings. He’ll interview a second time for the Bears job on Tuesday. He also has a second interview with the Vikings scheduled for Wednesday, should he make it to that interview.
Right now, it very much feels like Poles will have his pick of the two jobs and will land with whoever can make him a better offer.
Sounds like it’ll be the #Bears on Tuesday and the #Vikings on Wednesday for Ryan Poles — a finalist for both open NFC North GM jobs. https://t.co/TmiE6Lq4b1
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) January 22, 2022
Poles has climbed up the front office ranks in Kansas City, starting his career off as a Player Personnel Assistant under Scott Pioli. He was the Chiefs’ Director of College Scouting back in 2017, the year the team traded up to draft Patrick Mahomes. Most recently, he was entrusted with helping Kansas City rebuild their offensive line as Executive Director of Player Personnel.
Whether Poles ends up in Chicago or Minnesota doesn’t matter in the long run. He’s now been a finalist candidate four times dating back to last season when he was a finalist with the Carolina Panthers. Chiefs fans should be rooting for him to land a job, especially if it puts him in charge of a head-coaching search. That could put OC Eric Bieniemy in the driver’s seat to land a job as well.
Another reason fans should be rooting for Poles is because of the NFL’s new rules related to developing minority coaching candidates and executives. Kansas City would receive draft pick compensation in the third round for the next two seasons if Poles were to become a general manager.