Getty Bears general manager Ryan Poles.
Chicago Bears general manager Ryan Poles has finally broken his silence on his decision to release veteran guard Nate Davis midway through the 2024 season.
The Bears officially released Davis from their 53-man roster on November 13 following the tumultuous start to his second season in Chicago. Davis — a $30 million free agent signing for the team in 2023 — lost his starting job at right guard in the first three weeks of the 2024 season and spent his final four games on the roster as a game-day inactive.
“It was just time,” Poles said on ESPN 1000’s pregame show for Week 11’s game. “It was time, it wasn’t working out the way that it was supposed to. I had a good conversation with Nate on the way out. There are some lessons to learn from many different angles here. Some controllable, some uncontrollable, but at the end of the day it was best to move on and move in a different direction.”
Davis will now go down as one of the biggest free agent mistakes of Poles’ tenure as the team’s general manager. He signed him to a three-year, $30 million contract during 2023 free agency, believing he had found an elite run-blocker and stabilizing piece for the interior of their offensive line. Instead, he ended up with a below-average blocker who missed time with injuries and started just half of his games on the roster (13 of 26).
According to NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport, the Bears had tried to shop Davis on the trade market before the NFL trade deadline on November 5, hoping they could salvage a draft pick from the eroding situation. With no takers, though, they will have to settle for the $9.5 million in cap savings for 2025 that comes with Davis’ departure.
Ryan Poles Expects to Learn From Nate Davis Mistake
There is no doubt about it that the Bears made a mistake signing Davis in 2023. They got less than one full season’s worth of games out of him (16) and released him partway into his second year despite him carrying their sixth-largest cap hit ($11.4 million). His absences at practice also spawned reports that Davis doesn’t like practicing, poking a hole in the team culture Poles has been trying to build since he took the job in 2022.
With Davis behind them, though, Poles wants to make sure he and his front-office staff adjust their vetting process in free agency and learn from their mistakes with the guard.
When we look at the [free agent signings] that didn’t go well, we just have to make sure we’re learning from those situations,” Poles said. “And maybe there’s some added parts of the process to ensure we have even more success than we’ve had, so we’re always going to look back, do our after-action, to make sure our success rate is as high as it possibly can be. We’ve done that already, and we’ll continue to do that and learn.”
Will Bears Find Nate Davis’ Replacement in 2025 NFL Draft?
The Bears will need to rely on in-house solutions at right guard for the remainder of the 2024 season to account for Davis’ departure. Veteran Matt Pryor has started at the spot for the Bears since Week 3, but veteran Ryan Bates — an offseason trade acquisition — is healthy again and could fill the role, too, if the Bears want to maintain flexibility.
As far as long-term replacements for Davis, though, the Bears might not find a better opportunity to land a new starting right guard than in the 2025 NFL draft.
The Bears hold three selections in the first two rounds of the 2025 draft, including the Carolina Panthers’ second-rounder — which currently projects to be the No. 41 overall pick. While they would likely not reach for a guard in the first round, they could justify using either the Panthers’ pick or their own (No. 45 overall) to find one in Round 2.
Georgia’s Tate Ratledge or Cincinnati’s Luke Kandra could be options for the Bears if they pick within the top 50 and want to target guards with experience on the right side. If they simply want good interior talent, they could also consider Ohio State’s Donovan Jackson or Alabama’s Tyler Booker. The latter two are more appealing if Chicago has to replace Teven Jenkins — a 2025 free agent — as their starting left guard next season.
Perhaps with some luck, the Bears can find Davis’ replacement before the NFL draft. The 2025 free agency class is not the strongest at the position, but budding superstar Trey Smith could be available if the Kansas City Chiefs do not re-sign him to a new deal. Dallas Cowboys veteran Zach Martin, 35, is also due to become a free agent in March.
