Haugh on Bears: 'Ryan Poles is the general manager, but Ben Johnson has the most power'

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Transcript

00:00The best teams don't let free agency affect their draft decisions.

00:05I don't think the Bears should do that.

00:09Now we don't know a lot of things about Ben Johnson.

00:12We know that he's fixated on fixing the offensive line.

00:16This is good news because everybody knows it needs fixed.

00:19These are two really smart moves in that direction.

00:22But on draft night if he wants to draft Ashton Gente because he feels like they went out

00:27in free agency and addressed all of their offensive line needs, then I think you trust

00:32the coach.

00:33You trust the coach or you trust the football decision maker whose voice is the strongest

00:38and the loudest at Hal's Hall now.

00:41This is the Ben Johnson era.

00:43Ryan Pools is the general manager, but Ben Johnson has the most power.

00:47So you look at the draft in that way.

00:50If he wants to draft Will Campbell, the good teams always have endless supply, or not endless

00:57supply, but ample supply of offensive linemen.

00:59Look at the Eagles.

01:00They won a Super Bowl that way.

01:02They lose Jason Kelsey, they plug and play the next guy up.

01:05So the Bears cannot let this free agent or pre-free agent frenzy of trades and then signings

01:12affect their philosophy on draft night.

01:16They can't get giddy or carried away.

01:18That's our job.

01:19We get carried away.

01:20You are giddy as hell this week.

01:21Yeah, exactly.

01:22I'm three quarters full or six eighths full or whatever.

01:26Five eighths full.

01:28You are optimistic because these are two moves that make a lot of sense.

01:34As for free agency, what this does is it makes you more confident that they can go out and

01:39land a center like Drew Dallman, even if they overpay for him.

01:43They have $51.5 million left under the cap, and if you come back next week and you're

01:49introducing your new offensive interior and it's Drew Dallman, Jonah Jackson, who's playing

01:55guard folks, and Joe Tooney, then you are talking about a revamped offensive line and

02:01hope for Caleb Williams.