The Bears on Thursday announced that Jeff King has been promoted to assistant general manager under general manager Ryan Poles.
The move marks a crescendo in King's steady climb through the club's personnel department—a journey that began as a scouting intern in 2015.
"We congratulate Jeff on his elevation within our football operations department," Poles said. "Jeff has earned this promotion through his commitment to our team and his excellence within our operation, as well as the positive impact that he has created throughout our organization. We look forward to Jeff's continued leadership and contributions as we work toward building a sustained winner."
An NFL tight end who played 108 games over seven seasons with the Panthers (2006-10) and Cardinals (2011-12), King spent one year as a Bears scouting intern before being hired as a full-time pro scout in 2016. He was then elevated to director of pro scouting in 2020, co-director of player personnel in 2022 and senior director of player personnel in 2024.
"I'm super lucky," said King, whose latest promotion was announced on his 43rd birthday. "I've been here 12 years. That doesn't happen. When I walked in here 12 years ago as an intern, I didn't think it would go this far, but I've been very lucky and appreciative of this organization because it is special.
"I am honored to be able to continue representing the Chicago Bears organization, and I am thankful and appreciative to George H. McCaskey, the McCaskey family, Kevin Warren and Ryan Poles for their trust and belief in me. This is a special organization. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to grow and develop here, starting as an intern, and I look forward to continuing to help build our team as we work toward our collective pursuit of sustained excellence."
In replacing Ian Cunningham—who left the Bears to become Falcons general manager—King will continue working closely with Poles.
Although they played against each other in college—King was a tight end at Virginia Tech and Poles was an offensive lineman at Boston College—they didn't know each other well when Poles was hired as Bears GM in 2022.
Shortly after accepting the job, Poles evaluated members of the team's personnel department and was impressed with King.
"When we jumped into free agent meetings, he stood out to me," Poles said in April 2022. "He took control of that pro staff. He had an eye for talent. He was a very good communicator. He saw value in players. We kicked it off pretty quick, and he's going to be valuable for this organization."
King is grateful that Poles gave him a chance to prove himself and earn his trust.
"I appreciate him coming in here with non-tainted glasses because that's a hard thing to come into a place and keep people," King said. "That doesn't happen everywhere. That was an example for me that that's how good scouts do it. They evaluate the people around them. They keep good people. They keep people that they know they can trust …
"God willing one day [I'm] in that seat, I would do the same. I would come in and give those people a chance that you may not know. I didn't know Ryan Poles when he walked in the door, and he didn't know me. It would have been very easy to say, 'Hey, we appreciate your time with the Bears, but we're going to go in a different direction.' I appreciate that he gave me that opportunity to prove myself."
Now entering his 12th season with the Bears, King's experience as an NFL player continues to benefit him as a talent evaluator and decision-maker.
"There are certain things that you wholeheartedly believe in that made you successful as a player that you can carry over when you go into a school and [project] where a player could be three years down the road," King said. "And then just the knowledge I collected over the years as a player, there are some things you see on tape that you know exactly what they're going through, and that's helpful."
