5 tough decisions Chicago Bears GM Ryan Poles has to make this offseason

While last year was the first year of Ryan Poles as the Chicago Bears General Manager, this will really be his first offseason when you consider he was hired after the season, he was adopting a new team, and with that, he adopted another GMs salary cap space and draft picks.

Ryan Poles made some big decisions last year, but his job was more about the teardown than the rebuild. Now that the rebuild is starting, he will have serious questions to answer.

5. Should Chicago Bears re-sign David Montgomery?

One of the questions that will define his early tenure is what he does with David Montgomery. All of the following things can be true; first Montgomery is a fan favorite, and that will matter for a team that is a business.

What is also true is that Montgomery is better than average, and is what you need in the locker room as a teammate. At the same time, while every team does need a running back, their value of them has gone down significantly, mainly from the idea that there are so many good running backs, and the injury rate makes their shelf life much smaller.

This is exemplified this offseason by so many talented running backs hitting free agents. There also is a gap between $7M and $12M per year when looking at running back salaries.

It looks like a lot of these free agents will be bridging the gap this off-season. Ryan Poles can let David Montgomery walk, and he has Khalil Herbert, but Herbert is not a complete back so he will have to add someone.

Does he give Montgomery a fair offer? Does he wait to see how the market reacts before jumping in? Will the Chicago Bears pay that $7M range if needed, or will they look for a much cheaper compliment to Herbert? This is one that you can see both sides as they would like Montgomery back, but the price has so many questions tied to it.