Lake Forest, IL (AP) – Although the Chicago Bears failed to land Maxx Crosby, general manager Ryan Poles came away pleased with what he did defensively during the first few days of free agency.
Signing Seattle safety Coby Bryant and Cleveland linebacker Devin Bush upgraded the Bears’ defensive speed, a goal Poles spoke about during the NFL scouting combine.
Bryant comes in as All-Pro Kevin Byard exits for New England.
“Play style, he plays fast, instincts jump off the tape,” Poles said Thursday. “His ability to anticipate. Like I said before, we’re looking for guys that are passionate about ball. You can see that in his body language and how he moves.
“Any time you bring a player in and your phones go off — coaches, front office — on how (ticked) off Seattle was not having him back, but also how fortunate we are to have a guy like this in our building, that’s what you want to hear. And that’s exactly what happened. So, we’re fired up.”
Bryant, a 6-foot-1, 193-pound former cornerback, has seven interceptions over the last two seasons. He relishes the chance to play in defensive coordinator Dennis Allen’s system.
“I’m just scratching the surface,” Bryant said. “It’s only year two of playing safety. I’m still young, I turn 27 in two weeks. I would say that’s still young. But definitely, just I’m excited to be here.
“Like I said, I feel like the (Seattle) coaching staff has definitely prepared me to be not just a better player, but just a better leader for the room, and for the team as well, so I’m excited.”
Bush had three interceptions last year and joins a defense that led the NFL in takeaways last season. He also brings along seven years of experience.
“You know, I’m going into year eight,” Bush said. “Came into this league at 20 years old. So you can kind of say I grew up in this league. So I mean, there’s nothing I haven’t seen.”
He pointed out how he practiced against Ben Roethlisberger for three years and played against top QBs like Aaron Rodgers and Philip Rivers.
“So I mean, I’ve seen a lot of things, been through a lot of different situations,” Bush said. “So I think I bring that type of experience to this team.”
Poles looked into bringing aboard a more experience. He acknowledged the Bears’ initial interest in trading for Crosby to bulk up their pass rush.
“I’ve said before we’re always going to monitor every situation,” Poles said. “Sometimes it fits and it works with what you’ve got going on in terms of resources. Sometimes it doesn’t.
“So we were involved. I mean, we checked into it. We looked to see if it made sense had, some dialogue. I’ll just leave it at that.”
The Baltimore Ravens agreed to acquire Crosby from the Raiders, but the deal fell through.
“I don’t know what happened (in Baltimore),” Poles said. “I’m not in that building. So I just, I’ll let those people worry about that. That’s not my problem. This obviously is hard. You never have black and white, its always gray when you’re making decisions.
“So I’m sure there were things that they were working through that they had to make that decision, but again, that’s something they’ve got to worry about. I’m not worried about that right now.”
Poles had to make his own tough decision. He traded veteran wide receiver D.J. Moore with a fifth-round pick to Buffalo for a second-round pick to create salary cap space. It was only two months ago that Moore was making touchdown catches against Green Bay to help clinch the NFC North and then win a wild-card playoff game.
“D.J. is one of my favorite players, will always be one of my favorite players,” Poles said. “I knew that that was going to be tough for our organization.
“I’ve mentioned this before. My son is a passionate fan of the Chicago Bears. He was not very happy with me at all. I think it was cool D.J. sent him a video telling him not to be mad at Dad, it’s part of the business.”
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