That’s what I think. I don’t think Poles is an idiot or a hypocrite.
There has to be a reason he said the biggest indicator of a young QB breaking out is a ball-out WR, then got no major receivers in pre-draft free agency or the first two days of the draft.
There has to be a reason he said you build your offense from the trenches out, then did very little with OL in pre-draft free agency and the first two days of the draft.
The only thing that adds up to is that he doesn’t care about using 2022 to get the most out of Justin Fields’ development. And the only reason you wouldn’t care about using a down year to get the most out of your rookie-contract QB would be if you don’t see a long-term future there.
But you say that, and people on these boards go crazy and say you’re seeing things that aren’t there. It makes sense, though.
My take is that Poles’ attitude with Fields is this: “If he balls out in 2022, awesome. We can then address that and his weapons for the following year and beyond. If not, oh well—He’s not my guy anyway, and I’ve got a roster to fill out.”
It’s early, but I think I might have Poles pegged pretty well now. People snark at that, but I was the one weeks ago who said I don’t see Poles getting OL or WR on Day 2 of the draft, and I took it on the chin from people saying, “How could you possibly know!? You don’t know shit about Poles!”
Poles appears to be a slow, methodical guy who prefers to go small-to-big rather than big-to-small on roster moves. It’s the same reason I very much doubt he’ll go on a spending spree next offseason with a shit-ton of cap space. A lot of people here are counting on some massive 2023 offseason, and I just don’t see it. It doesn’t seem to fit with Poles’ character.
But hey, I guess we’ll see. I hope it works out. I’m not a Poles hater. I just don’t think the current approach will work out, and yes, I’m critical of it.