In Chicago, Jason Lieser wrote this offseason “probably will be the most important offseason of Ryan Poles’ run" as Bears GM. While the team had the NFL’s worst record this season, Poles “cleaned up former GM Ryan Pace’s mess." The "demolition is done" and "construction must get underway.” Poles has $118.1M in salary-cap space and a “full slate of draft picks, including No. 1 overall,” a “far more advantageous position than the one he inherited.” But Poles “tried to hit the brakes on the enormous expectations of what he will do with those resources." Poles: "Everyone’s talking about how much money we have and how we’re just gonna go crazy. We’re gonna be sound, so that we get the right players and we get good value" (CHICAGO SUN-TIMES, 1/10).
BALANCING ACT: In Boston, Ben Volin wrote the Patriots need "bold changes,” and asked whether owner Robert Kraft, President Jonathan Kraft, and coach Bill Belichick are "ready to make them.” The Krafts, from an “outsider’s perspective, have given Belichick the latitude to run the team as he sees fit in the post-Tom Brady era.” But it is a “delicate dance” for the Krafts. Belichick "isn't going to give up roster control or tolerate being micromanaged.” If ownership get "too involved," they “risk running off a Hall of Fame coach” (BOSTON GLOBE, 1/10).
PRESSURE BUILDING: ESPN.com’s David Newton wrote the "pressure is on" Panthers owner David Tepper to “make an incredible choice to lead the team moving forward.” Panthers GM Scott Fitterer said that the list of coaching candidates “won’t be large” even as “early indications from representatives of candidates are that the job is attractive.” Newton wrote Tepper’s “track record hasn’t been any better with coaches than it has been with quarterbacks outside of making Steve Wilks the team's interim coach." Tepper will "undergo an extensive search with his wife," Tepper Sports Entertainment Chief Administrative Officer Nicole Tepper (ESPN.com, 1/10).
