Chicago Bears offseason

[WrigleyField 22]

Howell being traded to Seattle.

 

Even the competition /grooming spots are going elsewhere.

[UMFan83]

10 minutes ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

Howell being traded to Seattle.

 

Even the competition /grooming spots are going elsewhere.

Seems more and more likely Fields will be a Bear next year either with Caleb or without him 

[minnesotacubsfan]

19 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Seems more and more likely Fields will be a Bear next year either with Caleb or without him 

maybe thats what Poles meant by doing right for Justin: giving him the opportunity to keep QB1 albeit with likely Caleb as competion

 

I'm ok with that. I think "locker room distraction" is overrated. If Fields figures it out, the Bears have Caleb to dangle as a trade option, if Fields doesnt figure it out, they have Caleb

 

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I think it's incredibly dumb if that's what we are doing, but if Williams can't blow fields away in a fair competition then it must suck to suck

[minnesotacubsfan]

23 minutes ago, Hairyducked Idiot said:

......if Williams can't blow fields away in a fair competition then it must suck to suck

thats a fair thought, to be sure

[Derwood]

1 hour ago, UMFan83 said:

Yes definitely look into that, but also definitely don't look into any other signings that were made minutes into FA 

I think it's about the teams reaching out to the players directly (which they're not allowed to do) rather than their agents (which they are allowed to do).

James Franklin kinda fucked Barkley by telling people that the Eagles reached out to Saquon about the PSU/Philly connection

[Tryptamine]

1 hour ago, minnesotacubsfan said:

maybe thats what Poles meant by doing right for Justin: giving him the opportunity to keep QB1 albeit with likely Caleb as competion

 

I'm ok with that. I think "locker room distraction" is overrated. If Fields figures it out, the Bears have Caleb to dangle as a trade option, if Fields doesnt figure it out, they have Caleb

 

God that would be a criminal offense and such a huge waste of trade value. At that point Caleb's trade value is far less than it was when you drafted him. 

[WrigleyField 22]

1 minute ago, Tryptamine said:

God that would be a criminal offense and such a huge waste of trade value. At that point Caleb's trade value is far less than it was when you drafted him. 

Not necessarily, IMO.  If somehow Fields becomes Lamar Jackson MVP I think stock on Caleb will still be sky high.  If Fields is good, not great, then he's your trade target and his value was restored.

 

And anyways, taking two swings to make sure you get the QB right would literally be worth any lost trade value.

[UMFan83]

1 minute ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

Not necessarily, IMO.  If somehow Fields becomes Lamar Jackson MVP I think stock on Caleb will still be sky high.  If Fields is good, not great, then he's your trade target and his value was restored.

 

And anyways, taking two swings to make sure you get the QB right would literally be worth any lost trade value.

Point taken but at this point the first scenario is so incredibly far fetched that its not worth talking about.  Also I could see the Caleb camp being disgruntled about not starting right away.  I mean tough horsefeathers but would also prefer not to destroy the relationship between the team and player right away.  Of course that's just speculation and we don't know how he'd really handle being benched for his rookie year.

[UMFan83]

Curtis Samuel signing with the Bills.  Even if the Bears do get one of the guys at 1.09, we can't go into the season with a WR room of:

DJ Moore

Nabors/Rome

Tyler Scott

Velus Jones Jr

Nsimba Webster

There are still options out there in FA but I'd feel a lot better when we sign one...

Edited March 14, 2024 by UMFan83

[BigSlick]

I truly don't think its much more complicated than the fact that the teams looking for a QB are already in position to draft one or do not want to spend draft capital on a guy who grades out at roughly the level of Gardner Minshew. It's always better to spend money than draft picks. 

I don't see Poles keeping his asking price for Fields too high. I think there simply just weren't many takers. I expect he'll be dealt between now and the draft or shortly after the draft.

But! Who knows! I do not put it past the team to have both Fields and Williams on the roster - and if all you could get was a .... 5th rounder or something, then it certainly makes sense to keep him (and perhaps keep an eye on teams who suffer injuries during training camp and such). 

Edited March 14, 2024 by BigSlick

[WrigleyField 22]

7 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Point taken but at this point the first scenario is so incredibly far fetched that its not worth talking about.  

Fair enough but someone else did so I was responding to that.

3 minutes ago, BigSlick said:

 

 

9 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

  Also I could see the Caleb camp being disgruntled about not starting right away.  I mean tough horsefeathers but would also prefer not to destroy the relationship between the team and player right away.  Of course that's just speculation and we don't know how he'd really handle being benched for his rookie year.

Yea, tough luck.  He'll get over it. It's not like you'd be talking about sittimg him for years. His contract is fixed and if he's great, his second contract value won't be impacted.

[Hairyducked Idiot]

I'll admit it's getting weird, but I think the most likely scenario is still that we dump fields for something at some point this offseason.  Whether the holdup really is Williams' medicals or if it's Poles giving up and dropping his price 

[WrigleyField 22]

1 hour ago, Hairyducked Idiot said:

I think it's incredibly dumb if that's what we are doing, but if Williams can't blow fields away in a fair competition then it must suck to suck

Well most rookie QBs suck.

 

But also, it wouldn't be a open competition (and rarely is there ever a true thing as an open competition).  It would be, "Justin is the starter"

[Hairyducked Idiot]

Just now, WrigleyField 22 said:

Well most rookie QBs suck.

 

But also, it wouldn't be a open competition (and rarely is there ever a true thing as an open competition).  It would be, "Justin is the starter"

Thanks I hate it 

[WrigleyField 22]

I mean, maybe it's just Justin as the backup too, but you either commit to Caleb as day 1 starter and he gets 100% of snaps or you committ to redshirting him a year and he doesn't see the field outside of an injury to the starter.

[CubinNY]

According to Brett or whoever runs the BN version of Bears blog, the Bears are “doing due diligence” with the prospects and hanging on to Fields right now. Which, if true makes Poles a liar at best. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

40 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Curtis Samuel signing with the Bills.  Even if the Bears do get one of the guys at 1.09, we can't go into the season with a WR room of:

DJ Moore

Nabors/Rome

Tyler Scott

Velus Jones Jr

Nsimba Webster

There are still options out there in FA but I'd feel a lot better when we sign one...

Man I'm kinda tired of hearing horsefeathers like this. If Caleb is the man he should elevate the guys around him.  Look at the horsefeathers Stroud was surrounded with. Having Moore and one of Nabors/Odunze would actually be pretty damn nice and Poles spent a decent pick on Scott, he needs a shot, IMO.

[We Got The Whole 9]

1 minute ago, CubinNY said:

According to Brett or whoever runs the BN version of Bears blog, the Bears are “doing due diligence” with the prospects and hanging on to Fields right now. Which, if true makes Poles a liar at best. 

That Medina dude doesn't have any sources but that's obviously what they are doing at the moment. Fields being a 60% passer who takes a sack every 5th drop back shouldn't surprise anyone to have a really tepid market.

[Bertz]

8 minutes ago, CubinNY said:

According to Brett or whoever runs the BN version of Bears blog, the Bears are “doing due diligence” with the prospects and hanging on to Fields right now. Which, if true makes Poles a liar at best. 

Haven't read what you're referring to but this sounds like it's them regurgitating Rapaport from yesterday.

I'd guess at this point it's at least one of these two things:

- Dumping Justin for a day 2 pick was a no brainer, but for a day 3 pick the juice isn't worth the squeeze and Poles figures he might as well hang onto Justin as a high end backup

- Like Kyle Long mentioned, Poles is waiting for an inevitable injury to shake up the market and get someone desperate enough to offer closer to what he was initially asking for

If you're not worried about the locker room it's probably the right call, but it does make the "doing right by Justin" speech a big ole whoopsie. 

[Soul]

34 minutes ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

I mean, maybe it's just Justin as the backup too, but you either commit to Caleb as day 1 starter and he gets 100% of snaps or you committ to redshirting him a year and he doesn't see the field outside of an injury to the starter.

I’ll say it right now.  Start Fields and red shirt Caleb.  It’s a completely valid strategy that has worked in the real world most notably a couple hundred miles north.

[minnesotacubsfan]

im gald you didnt say the name of the place

 

hell

 

[Brian707]

11 minutes ago, Soul said:

I’ll say it right now.  Start Fields and red shirt Caleb.  It’s a completely valid strategy that has worked in the real world most notably a couple hundred miles north.

Favre and Rodgers are HOFers though.  Fields might be out of the league in a couple years 

[UMFan83]

43 minutes ago, We Got The Whole 9 said:

Man I'm kinda tired of hearing horsefeathers like this. If Caleb is the man he should elevate the guys around him.  Look at the horsefeathers Stroud was surrounded with. Having Moore and one of Nabors/Odunze would actually be pretty damn nice and Poles spent a decent pick on Scott, he needs a shot, IMO.

I hope he does elevate those around him.  I still don't like a team going into year 3 of a rebuild having 1 reliable WR on the roster, hoping another blue chipper falls to them at 9 and then a bunch of afterthoughts.  Tyler Scott is fine but are you ok with him being WR2 and Velus WR3 if Moore or Nabors/Rome gets injured?  We don't necessarily go into every season with glaring holes.

All that said I'm still convinced we'll sign 1-2 WR in FA, Poles is likely just waiting for some value deals because that's how he operates.

Edited March 14, 2024 by UMFan83

[jersey cubs fan]

Re: the “do right by Justin” comments. 
 

I really don’t think that holding onto him is contrary to that statement. It seems obvious that Poles wanted to trade Fields to a team that valued him as a starter. But what is he supposed to do, force a trade to a team that doesn’t value Fields and has other plans at the position? Is that doing right by fields? 
 

he wanted to hand Fields a good situation, but there isn’t a good situation to hand him. His best bet is backing up a shaky veteran or starting for a team breaking in a rookie. Well, the team he’s currently on could offer the latter, and most teams under the former scenario would rather pay some average Joe $7m than give up anything more valuable than cash.