2021 Bears season

[Brian]

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[jersey cubs fan]

So back to my earlier thought on their plans for this season I think all Nagy hast to do is prove he can score points and make the offense look reasonably improved. All these draft picks on the offensive side kind of reinforces that idea.

[17 Seconds]

About how many wins should we be looking at for the bears next year? Just guess. Does fields move the needle very much in his first year?

[UMFan83]

About how many wins should we be looking at for the bears next year? Just guess. Does fields move the needle very much in his first year?

 

Schedule appears to be very tough. Even if it’s Dalton the offense will be better but the defense is a little worse. I say 9 wins with Fields taking over midway through the season

[cbbryan]

About how many wins should we be looking at for the bears next year? Just guess. Does fields move the needle very much in his first year?

 

 

It may depend on how early in the season Dalton gets concussed.

 

Regardless, I don't think there's any way that Fields isn't the starting QB at some point this season.

 

I'm a little unsure of the defense too. They've got just as much to prove as the offense, imo.

 

I'm optimistic they can get 9 wins.

[Brian707]

About how many wins should we be looking at for the bears next year? Just guess. Does fields move the needle very much in his first year?

 

17

[UMFan83]

Draft grades, on draft night, for 6th rounders are tough to take too seriously, but CBS is grading every pick of the draft and they gave the Bears 6th round picks grades of A-, A, A+ And they are not overly generous graders. Of the 43 picks in the round, only 8 were given A grades, the 3 Bears picks and 5 others.

 

Here are all their grades and write ups:

 

11. Bears: Justin Fields, QB, Ohio State

Grade: A

 

They gave up a lot, but they ended up with the second-best quarterback in the draft. It's a bold move, but necessary.

 

39. Bears: Teven Jenkins, OT, Oklahoma St.

Grade: A+

 

Home-run selection for Ryan Pace. Jenkins' film is first-round caliber. Nasty technician. Punishes people on a routine basis. Good length too. Big need at right tackle no more for Chicago.

 

151. Bears, Larry Borom, OL, Missouri

Grade: B+

 

Calm, cool, collected big man who understands how strong he is and how that helps him control blockers. Probably needs to be play guard in the NFL. Moves well relative to how wide he is. Just clean up the hand work and this is a starter.

 

217. Bears, Khalil Herbert, RB, Virginia Tech

Grade: A-

 

Bouncy, contact-balance monster who can piece together multiple cuts to make defenders miss. Lacks long speed. No clue how he was still available. Nice RB depth for Chicago.

 

221. Bears: Dazz Newsome, WR, North Carolina

Grade: A

 

Sudden, return specialist who's skills there translate into the slot. Separates and is dynamic after the catch. Speed allows him to power through tackle attempts. Some drops on film.

 

 

228. Bears, Thomas Graham Jr., CB, Oregon

Grade: A+

 

Not the biggest nor the most athletic, but always around the football. Elite ball production in college and plays bigger than his size at the catch point. Serious zone instincts.

 

250. Bears, Khyiris Tonga, DL, BYU

Grade: B-

 

Another athletic nose tackle. Rushes are high but powerful enough to displace interior blockers on a relatively routine basis. Just slower footed and doesn't have a reliable pass-rush move arsenal.

 

7 picks, 5 were A's, lowest grade was B- which was their 7th round pick. Again draft grades are draft grades but at least one website absolutely loves the Bears draft.

 

Link: https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/draft/news/2021-nfl-draft-grades-analysis-for-every-first-round-selection-from-trevor-lawrence-to-joe-tryon/

[raw]

About how many wins should we be looking at for the bears next year? Just guess. Does fields move the needle very much in his first year?

 

 

It may depend on how early in the season Dalton gets concussed.

 

Regardless, I don't think there's any way that Fields isn't the starting QB at some point this season.

 

I'm a little unsure of the defense too. They've got just as much to prove as the offense, imo.

 

I'm optimistic they can get 9 wins.

 

Yeah, I don't like the defense as much as I did last year. Fuller to Trufant is a big downgrade. Gipson and Hicks will probably be worse than last year. Johnson's shoulder scares me. Trevathan and Quinn, best hope they are not stealing money this year again.

 

Offensively, Dalton isn't very good. One thing I will say vs Trubisky is he's more likely to be consistently mediocre instead of flipping between good and disastrous games. On paper the Bears should be able to run the ball better next year, and if Fields gets in there he adds another dimension to the redzone so I have hope they can up the scoring, but ultimately probably still a 7-to-10 win expected win range.

 

Sent from my SM-A115AZ using Tapatalk

[Brian]

Again draft grades are draft grades but at least one website absolutely loves the Bears draft.

 

Pro Football Focus too

 

CHICAGO BEARS

 

R1 (11): QB Justin Fields, Ohio State

R2 (39): OT Teven Jenkins, Oklahoma State

R5 (151): OT Larry Borom, Missouri

R6 (217): RB Khalil Herbert, Virginia Tech

R6 (221): WR Dazz Newsome, North Carolina

R6 (228): CB Thomas Graham Jr., Oregon

R7 (250): DI Khyiris Tonga, BYU

 

Day 1: The Bears underwhelmed when they settled for Andy Dalton earlier in the offseason, but they redressed the situation with an aggressive move for Justin Fields, the No. 3 player on PFF’s Big Board. Fields has special talent and back-to-back seasons with a 91.0-plus PFF grade. His ceiling is as high as any passer in this draft, and he’s a real threat in the run game.

 

Day 2: Buried in the celebrations of Chicago selecting quarterback Justin Fields was the state of the team’s offensive line on paper, but the Bears are making a major move to address that with a trade-up for Teven Jenkins. One of the best run blockers in the draft, Jenkins also pass-blocked well but had an extremely limited number of true pass-blocking plays to judge from.

 

Day 3: Thomas Graham Jr. opted out of the 2020 season, but it is still surprising to see him drop this far, given that he has three seasons of quality play as a starter on tape. He earned 80.0-plus PFF grades in each of the 2018 and 2019 seasons for Oregon and has a versatile, scheme-diverse skill set.

 

Draft Grade: A+

 

https://www.pff.com/news/draft-2021-nfl-draft-grades-all-32-teams

[SpongeWorthy]

[Brian]

oops

 

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[raw]

Sucks for Leno, but like the bold move. You don't move up to the early 2nd round (giving up an extra top 100 pick in the process) to play a guy at RT, especially when you need to cut a big salary to even sign said player and his fellow draft class.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

If rather have dumped Graham.

[WrigleyField 22]

If rather have dumped Graham.

Porque no los dos?

 

For whatever reason, seems like they like Graham.. He's basically a very expensive red zone specialist. Oh well.

[CaliforniaRaisin]

Keeping/acquiring guys like Graham, Ifedi and Dalton at the expense of better players like Fuller and Leno seems like a mistake.

[WrigleyField 22]

Keeping/acquiring guys like Graham, Ifedi and Dalton at the expense of better players like Fuller and Leno seems like a mistake.

Without context of cost, position difference, and replacement cost, this comparison is totally meaningless. The only two that are remotely comparable on a non-adjusted basis is Ifedi-Leno. But Leno is still 2x the cost of Ifedi.

 

For any of the other guys we have to start looking at replacement cost. I know the Dalton-Fuller example has been beaten to death, but needless to say the QB market is like none-other.

 

Graham is the only one I really don't get. But I will at least take a wait and see approach. By mid-May things should start to shape up if we see other moves made or not.

[WrigleyField 22]

Also, if the plan is for Jenkins and Borom to be the tackles by 2022 and Fields the QB, that's a really cheap trio for 3 positions that would otherwise cost A LOT of money in the open market. That leaves a lot of money to put elsewhere into the roster and alleviates many cap concerns. 2022-24 is a great window for Pace to go all in on now. Hoping for an announcement of an ARob extension in the next couple weeks. :beg:

[WrigleyField 22]

Updating my own depth chart used to be an annual tradition of mine. But I don't have time for that anymore so heres a well written article instead :

 

https://theathletic.com/2562428/2021/05/03/bears-depth-chart-projection-when-will-rookies-justin-fields-teven-jenkins-be-ready-to-start?source=user-shared-article

 

Also, with the Leno move they should be at about 4.5M in space. But for in-season cap and cushion for in season moves that's pretty much maxed out. This depth is probably staying more or less the same unless some other large cap move and corresponding FA addition happens.

[raw]

Keeping/acquiring guys like Graham, Ifedi and Dalton at the expense of better players like Fuller and Leno seems like a mistake.

 

Yeah, seems like big cut decisions came down to Fuller vs. Hicks and Leno vs. Graham. I disagree with both decisions they made if those comparisons actually went into the thought process. But in the grand scheme, all 4 weren't going to be here in 2022 anyway so probably not a big deal.

[raw]

Also, if the plan is for Jenkins and Borom to be the tackles by 2022 and Fields the QB, that's a really cheap trio for 3 positions that would otherwise cost A LOT of money in the open market. That leaves a lot of money to put elsewhere into the roster and alleviates many cap concerns. 2022-24 is a great window for Pace to go all in on now. Hoping for an announcement of an ARob extension in the next couple weeks. :beg:

 

I'm still not in a hurry to sign Robinson. He has no reason to come off his asking price (20M/year) and even with Fields, the Bears have no reason to pay him that. Plus, I'm going to write a Fields outlook article (even though I have no site to write for anymore) and I actually don't think Robinson is a great fit for the type of offense I think Fields would run best. Obviously, it wouldn't hurt to have Robinson either, but I do think the Bears could make out much better with the resources it would take to keep him and still do right by their hopeful franchise QB.

[UMFan83]

I'm obviously very interested to see how the Bears work in Fields. They are talking like he's gonna sit out the entire year, but I just can't see that happening. I know this was common 15-20 years ago for a new QB, but other than Mahomes I can't think of too many examples of 1st round QBs sitting an entire season before playing. And the Chiefs were a contender without Mahomes so that made sense. The Bears will not be with Dalton. A good draft and a new franchise QB doesn't automatically take a HC and GM off the hot seat so they need to win now.

[WrigleyField 22]

I'm obviously very interested to see how the Bears work in Fields. They are talking like he's gonna sit out the entire year, but I just can't see that happening. I know this was common 15-20 years ago for a new QB, but other than Mahomes I can't think of too many examples of 1st round QBs sitting an entire season before playing. And the Chiefs were a contender without Mahomes so that made sense. The Bears will not be with Dalton. A good draft and a new franchise QB doesn't automatically take a HC and GM off the hot seat so they need to win now.

Most teams still seem to want to put a vet up those first few games. Even from last years class, I think Burrow was the only day 1 starter. But teams will make it very easy for their starting vets to be Wally Pipp'd.

 

Oh Dalton had a hang nail before week 5. Guess it's Fields' job now.

[UMFan83]

I'm obviously very interested to see how the Bears work in Fields. They are talking like he's gonna sit out the entire year, but I just can't see that happening. I know this was common 15-20 years ago for a new QB, but other than Mahomes I can't think of too many examples of 1st round QBs sitting an entire season before playing. And the Chiefs were a contender without Mahomes so that made sense. The Bears will not be with Dalton. A good draft and a new franchise QB doesn't automatically take a HC and GM off the hot seat so they need to win now.

Most teams still seem to want to put a vet up those first few games. Even from last years class, I think Burrow was the only day 1 starter. But teams will make it very easy for their starting vets to be Wally Pipp'd.

 

Oh Dalton had a hang nail before week 5. Guess it's Fields' job now.

 

Yeah I just worry about the fact that Nagy was on the Chiefs when they sat Mahomes his rookie year (besides Week 17). He's already alluded to this in press conferences.

[minnesotacubsfan]

I'm obviously very interested to see how the Bears work in Fields. They are talking like he's gonna sit out the entire year, but I just can't see that happening. I know this was common 15-20 years ago for a new QB, but other than Mahomes I can't think of too many examples of 1st round QBs sitting an entire season before playing. And the Chiefs were a contender without Mahomes so that made sense. The Bears will not be with Dalton. A good draft and a new franchise QB doesn't automatically take a HC and GM off the hot seat so they need to win now.

Most teams still seem to want to put a vet up those first few games. Even from last years class, I think Burrow was the only day 1 starter. But teams will make it very easy for their starting vets to be Wally Pipp'd.

 

Oh Dalton had a hang nail before week 5. Guess it's Fields' job now.

 

Yeah I just worry about the fact that Nagy was on the Chiefs when they sat Mahomes his rookie year (besides Week 17). He's already alluded to this in press conferences.

 

 

I dont think anyone thought Mahomes was nearly as polished as Fields is, however. I think the pressure will be to move Fields into the starter role asap

[BigbadB]

Most teams still seem to want to put a vet up those first few games. Even from last years class, I think Burrow was the only day 1 starter. But teams will make it very easy for their starting vets to be Wally Pipp'd.

 

Oh Dalton had a hang nail before week 5. Guess it's Fields' job now.

 

Yeah I just worry about the fact that Nagy was on the Chiefs when they sat Mahomes his rookie year (besides Week 17). He's already alluded to this in press conferences.

 

 

I dont think anyone thought Mahomes was nearly as polished as Fields is, however. I think the pressure will be to move Fields into the starter role asap

 

Pace and Nagy can't feel like they are completely out of the dog house simply because of the appearance of a solid draft. I'm sure they will be very tempted to put the best talent on the field asap. NFC North is ripe for the taking.