One day after acquiring Joe Tryon-Shoyinka in a trade with the Browns, Bears general manager Ryan Poles detailed what enticed him about the defensive end.
"Excited about the player," Poles said Wednesday. "Real athletic. Someone that we really liked coming out [in the draft] as well. I think he can help us."
The Bears dealt a 2026 sixth-round pick to Cleveland in exchange for Tryon-Shoyinka and a 2026 seventh-round selection. He has appeared in 74 NFL games with 45 starts over five seasons with the Buccaneers (2021-24) and Browns (2025), registering 147 tackles, 15.0 sacks and 21 tackles-for-loss.
The Seattle native was selected by the Buccaneers with the 32nd overall pick in the first round of the 2021 draft out of Washington. His 15.0 career sacks and 21 tackles-for-loss all came during his four seasons with Tampa. This year he played only 31 snaps on defense in eight games with Cleveland, producing nine tackles.
"He didn't get a lot of time in Cleveland, but the tape that you saw, there was a lot of traits to help us both in the run game and the pass game," Poles said. "Loved the effort and the motor, the range that he has … [He's] reliable, dependable."
Poles expects Tryon-Shoyinka to play Sunday when the Bears host the Giants, though his role has yet to be determined. The 6-5, 259-pounder was acquired to help fill the void created by the season-ending Achilles injury that defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo sustained in last Sunday's 47-42 win over the Bengals.
"Unfortunately, we lost Dayo, so [Tryon-Shoyinka] will step in and get going," Poles said. "We'll see play time, role, all of that will come together as we get through this week of practice. But it will be exciting to see him get integrated with our team and get rolling."
Poles cast a wide net seeking to acquire players before Tuesday's trade deadline.
"We made calls across the league, and I check up on all of the guys that you would imagine just to see the availability," he said. "You get different answers. Sometimes they change. If you start three weeks prior, as you get closer, things come up and down based on how teams are doing and how they feel about the player. Sometimes they go to the player and ask him how do they see the future and go from there. We turned pretty much every stone to find those answers."
Poles enjoyed working with coach Ben Johnson leading up to the deadline.
"The process was outstanding," Poles said. "Our staff did a great job really identifying who was available across the league. Was able to sit down with [Johnson] over the last few weeks and just kind of talk about those situations, the impact it would have on our football team now but also into the future. We had some really good conversations about that. And then we were able to make our decision and go from there."
Poles revealed that there were "a lot of deals we could have made," but the Bears GM did not want to mortgage the future by unloading high draft picks. It's a philosophy shared by Johnson, whom Poles lauded for possessing "the thoughtfulness and the awareness of the big picture."
"A lot of times you get into these moments, and you get tunnel vision about like, 'Right now, what do I need to do?'" Poles said. "His ability to see short term and long term and for us to have those conversations, as a front office person, it's really awesome to have. Not only him but also [defensive coordinator] Dennis Allen, too, who has been in that chair, to see the big picture and how we want to build this football team, they have a really good understanding of it, which is good."
Johnson enjoyed the collaboration just as much as Poles.
"He was turning over every stone in looking for ways to improve our roster both this year and in future years," Johnson said. "We had some really healthy dialogue on what we want this thing to look like as we are building this thing out. I feel really good about the move we made.
"I think our guys will step up as we get going here in the second half of the season. [Montez] Sweat is starting to come on. Book (Austin Booker) had a good start there to the second half with the first game. I think we are going to be in a pretty good spot up front."
