The Bears are on the clock; Packers Week

[SpongeWorthy]

15 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

I'd rather throw 4 darts than 1. The QB can't be just a little better than Fields, they need to be significantly better to justify losing all those potential upgrades.

getting a rookie scale contract at QB and trading fields gets you a dart or two though

[WrigleyField 22]

2 minutes ago, Tryptamine said:

I know this, but it's also spreading out the risk. I also think it's incredibly safe to say MHJ or Nabers is a significant upgrade over Mooney and while a QB upgrade is worth more than a WR upgrade, that's why there's 3 more potential upgrades besides this.

The opportunity to upgrade Mooney is gonna have plenty of other options as well whether it's trade, FA, or later in draft.  QB upgrades are always incredibly limiting, so the opportunity cost is very real.

[Brian707]

The ultimate goal for Poles should be to win the SB in the next few years. Fields will not win you a SB but Williams or Maye might.  The best part of all of this if the Bears get Willams or Maye is the anger that will come from the meatball fanbase. Not saying anyone posting here but your typical Score caller from Bridgeport or Elmwood Park.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I think there's a valid path where you 

1) Bring in a league-average veteran QB, someone above the Dalton line

2) Trade out of No. 1 to get a buttload of value

3) Plan to draft second-level QB prospects, in either this year or the future.

I just don't know where you find the QB for part 1.

[mul21]

This feels like the most reasoned take I've seen and I can't disagree with him.  My one caveat is that if you draft a QB at 1.1, you have to clean house with the coaching staff and get a guy that fits the QB that's selected.

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/1/3/24023364/chicago-bears-justin-fields-no-1-pick-decision

[WrigleyField 22]

11 minutes ago, Hairyducked Idiot said:

I think there's a valid path where you 

1) Bring in a league-average veteran QB, someone above the Dalton line

2) Trade out of No. 1 to get a buttload of value

3) Plan to draft second-level QB prospects, in either this year or the future.

I just don't know where you find the QB for part 1.

Cousins is the only semi realistic one I can think of, and to that I say yuck.  I'd rather watch Fields have a 5 second TTT than cheer for that corny ass QB

[WrigleyField 22]

11 minutes ago, mul21 said:

This feels like the most reasoned take I've seen and I can't disagree with him.  My one caveat is that if you draft a QB at 1.1, you have to clean house with the coaching staff and get a guy that fits the QB that's selected.

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/1/3/24023364/chicago-bears-justin-fields-no-1-pick-decision

Obviously I get the whole alignment of coach thing, but I wouldn't want to pass up a QB over it either.

 

We don't have to like the decision, but you'd be hard pressed to make a valid argument that there wasn't alignment in GM-HC-QB even with Flus at the helm. Likely any lake duck discourse at that point is probably more media narrative than reality (though impossible to know for sure)

[Rex Buckingham]

13 minutes ago, mul21 said:

This feels like the most reasoned take I've seen and I can't disagree with him.  My one caveat is that if you draft a QB at 1.1, you have to clean house with the coaching staff and get a guy that fits the QB that's selected.

https://www.theringer.com/nfl/2024/1/3/24023364/chicago-bears-justin-fields-no-1-pick-decision

I liked this part...

"So if risk will be present, it’s best to offset that risk with maximal reward: which brings us back to the quarterback selected with the first pick. There might be a future top-10, top-five quarterback awaiting the lucky team at the top of this draft—heck, there might be two. Even though Fields has much more room for development than the average third-year quarterback, his ceiling is still lower than that of younger, fresher unknowns like Williams and Maye. The benefit of hitting on a high-tail outcome for Fields is moderate: You’ve got a fringe top-10 quarterback on a second contract. The benefit of hitting on a high-tail outcome with Williams or Maye is enormous: a C.J. Stroud–, Joe Burrow–, Jalen Hurts–like impact on a franchise. A swift and unstoppable catapult into contention."

[raw]

26 minutes ago, Hairyducked Idiot said:

I think there's a valid path where you 

1) Bring in a league-average veteran QB, someone above the Dalton line

2) Trade out of No. 1 to get a buttload of value

3) Plan to draft second-level QB prospects, in either this year or the future.

I just don't know where you find the QB for part 1.

This would honestly make me laugh. All the arguing I've done on Twitter about Fields v Caleb, only for the Bears to pick what's behind door #3

[Old Style]

2 hours ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

The consensus on them is both incredibly strong and there's not a super strong consensus on who the top guy in 2025 would even be whereas people easily had their targets set on Williams and Maye this time last year.

Granted sometimes a strong consensus guy emerges like a Joe Burrow, but the odds of being in that spot or being able to trade up are far from given.  If you're passing on Maye/Williams now the assumption is that if Fields busts your next QB pick will likely be something like the 3rd to 5th QB off the board in a draft (or the veteran FA/trade market). That CAN work as we see frequently, but the favorable outcomes are definitely low then.

The 2023 season still has a game to go and you already know that no QB in the 2025 draft will be close to what Williams and Maye are? LOL

[Bertz]

25 minutes ago, Old Style said:

The 2023 season still has a game to go and you already know that no QB in the 2025 draft will be close to what Williams and Maye are? LOL

Generally the really really good QB prospects are known multiple years out.  Like Wrigley said there are exceptions like Burrow, but usually the super exciting guys are not popup prospects.

[Outshined_One]

7 minutes ago, Bertz said:

Generally the really really good QB prospects are known multiple years out.  Like Wrigley said there are exceptions like Burrow, but usually the super exciting guys are not popup prospects.

This upcoming draft has been pegged for awhile as being really good at QB. Williams won the Heisman last season and would have been in the conversation for #1 overall if he had been able to declare last season.

We might get a pop-up 1.1 pick at QB in 2025 simply because the field doesn't look that great right now.

[Wilson A2000]

 

[WrigleyField 22]

1 hour ago, Old Style said:

The 2023 season still has a game to go and you already know that no QB in the 2025 draft will be close to what Williams and Maye are? LOL

1. Not what I said. I spoke to uncertainty of what will be there and Bears capacity to capitalize on it, not certainty of what won't be there

2. A game to go. Between 2 teams who's QBs will (likely) be in the 2024 draft?  Yea, I don't think any possible consensus QB for the 2025 draft is building their case more until Sept 2024. No one stands out to even the level Maye was talked about a year+ out (let alone Williams)

Edited January 3, 2024 by WrigleyField 22

[BigSlick]

4 hours ago, Hairyducked Idiot said:

I think there's a valid path where you 

1) Bring in a league-average veteran QB, someone above the Dalton line

2) Trade out of No. 1 to get a buttload of value

3) Plan to draft second-level QB prospects, in either this year or the future.

I just don't know where you find the QB for part 1.

I don't entirely hate this plan. It all depends on what our scouts think of the second level QBs, like Penix and Nix (I don't want anything to do with Daniels or McCarthy). If you think that they're at the same level or just a smidge less talented (or you've found a steal) than the top line guys, and can get them in the middle of the 1st round, it will net you a ton more value. 

 

Of course, I'm far more comfortable with 1) being "keep Fields for another year or two" than you are, but its essentially the same plan. 

[minnesotacubsfan]

Picking a lower first rd qb over Williams or (to a much lesser extant imo) Maye is idiotic. Talk about the fear of making a decision. If you’re going to use your pick to take a QB, it has to be 1.1. Whatever picks you get for trading down + 1.whatever qb is far riskier than just keeping fields and taking the extra picks on a trade 

[scarey]

6 hours ago, Brian707 said:

The ultimate goal for Poles should be to win the SB in the next few years. Fields will not win you a SB but Williams or Maye might.  The best part of all of this if the Bears get Willams or Maye is the anger that will come from the meatball fanbase. Not saying anyone posting here but your typical Score caller from Bridgeport or Elmwood Park.

Personally, I think there meatballs will quickly jump in the new QB bandwagon. There will be there random one offs who will pop up from time to time when the new QB faulters even slightly, but it will be no different than the holdover Mitch fan boys.

[Tryptamine]

Montez Sweat and Jaylon Johnson make the pro bowl. I'd expect Moore and Edwards to be backups. 

[Outshined_One]

Gah, too many options! Keep Fields and trade the #1 for a king's ransom? Take Caleb at #1 and trade Fields? Trade down, take MHJr., and then take someone like Penix or Ward with a 2nd or 3rd rounder?

It's fun, but there are way too many possibilities in play.

[Tryptamine]

the only scenario I am 100% against is keeping Fields then using a day 1 or 2 pick on a QB

[NorthsideAvenger]

3 hours ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

Picking a lower first rd qb over Williams or (to a much lesser extant imo) Maye is idiotic. 

Maybe but if the Bears are taking a lower first rd QB that means they also has somebody like Harrison, Jr, etc. That is better than having Williams, alone. 

[gflore34]

Just don't see Poles passing on Williams or Maye. If Fields had taken a giant step forward in the passing game maybe you trade the pick for a haul of resources however, Fields improvement in the passing game was, at best, incremental.

[BigbadB]

9 hours ago, NorthsideAvenger said:

Maybe but if the Bears are taking a lower first rd QB that means they also has somebody like Harrison, Jr, etc. That is better than having Williams, alone. 

Doubt Williams would be alone. If you went Williams with the first pick, I'd imagine that the other pick would be designated for WR, whether that's Nabers, Odunze or the like. The Bears absolutely need a first round WR regardless of what they do with the other pick.   

[NorthsideAvenger]

11 minutes ago, BigbadB said:

Doubt Williams would be alone. If you went Williams with the first pick, I'd imagine that the other pick would be designated for WR, whether that's Nabers, Odunze or the like. The Bears absolutely need a first round WR regardless of what they do with the other pick.   

That's the thing, I like Harrison, Nabors and Odunze and would be perfectly happy with any one of them. 

[BigSlick]

I think DJ Moore should have been a Pro Bowl starter, but I can understand if his numbers don't match up with the top flight receivers in the NFC. 

Still to do what he did with 4 games of a rookie backup QB and 12 additional games of...at times inconsistent QB play is remarkable.