BigbadB

Given Shelton was a one year deal, I'd add Center as the other position they should draft in the first 4 rounds. It could technically be done without trading back. Fields could still net a pick, too.

Ah crap. You are correct, sir.

They traded back with Phily and picked up the 4th rounder used to trade for Allen. Phily drafted Jalen Carter at 9.

Here is the updated trade of the 2023 first overall pick..... Bears give up the first overall pick (Bryce Young) Bears receive: - OT Darnell Wright -WR Keenan Allen (trade of 9th pick in 2024 draft) - CB Tyrique Stevenson (trade up from 61st pick in '23) - WR DJ Moore - First overall pick in 2024 draft - Second round pick in 2025 draft

I wanna say that his injury last year was concussion related. I feel like I saw the hit and that it was brutal. I could be wrong, though. ETA: Nope. AC Joint/Shoulder sprain

Do the Bears really want the entire Chargers starting passing attack from last year? No. Williams is very injury prone, and I'm not sure it's in the budget to pay Williams what he'll be asking for. I think you can probably expect someone along the lines of a Donovan Peoples-Jones or Laviska Shenault type of budget minded WR to battle it out with the rookie draft pick and Tyler Scott for playing time. Might even bring back ESB.

Will Tyler Scott start a bidding war for #13 in Chicago or will he be a nice young man and give it up. And who gets it? Williams or Allen?

Here's the deal (in my best Biden voice). The Chargers were over the cap. They already cut Mike Williams and let other players walk that they likely would have kept around, Everett for example. They were going to have to cut one of Bosa, Mack or Allen. Turns out, Bosa restructured and Allen was going to be cut. The Bears swooped in and gave them a 4th rounder. Both teams win. Chargers get a draft pick, Bears get a guy that was never going to sign with them if he was released. This benefits the Bears another way, too. If you want Odunze or Nabers still, one of those guys is almost guaranteed to be there at 9. It's now down to AZ, LAC and NYG to draft WR in the top 8. Atl has stocked their WR room with London, Mooney and Moore, so it would be quite strange for them to draft there. Tenn picked up Ridley and still has Hopkins and that dude they drafted two years ago that likes to be hurt. They need Oline protection more than they need another WR. QB's are going 1,2,3 and then MHJ 4th. Falcons and Titans are probably not going WR and either one or both the Chargers and Giants should or need to trade down. My prediction is Minnesota trades up to 5 to take the threat of drafting McCarthy way from Denver and LVR. So, the Bears could still get one of those top 3 WR's at 9. However, I think Keenan is such an improvement to the WR room, I now think Poles pivots to DE and trades back at 9 for Turner, Latu or Verse. He picks up a better pick in the trade down than he gave up for Keenan. The WR class is so strong, he can still get a Center in the 3rd, a DL with the added pick and a WR in the 4th. Sign another veteran WR to compete with Scott and the rookie for WR3 and 4. I'm am so excited about this pickup. Allen is not really injury prone. He had over 100 catches in his age 31 season. They have the option of extending him or letting him walk and they have all of their draft picks for next year to continue getting more weapons for Williams. Swift and Johnson catching balls out of the backfield, Kmet and Everett catching balls out of the TE position, Moore and Allen and possibly some other stud WR in the draft while also fixing the Center position spells good things for the passing game this year. We might just have our first 4000 yard passer this year.

Atlanta now has Drake London, Mack Hollins, Darnell Mooney and Rondale Moore at WR. We can probably remove them from the list of teams ahead of 9 that take a WR. Chargers cut Mike Williams and may still cut Keenan Allen since they are still over the cap. One of Mack, Bosa or Allen will need to be cut most likely. AZ will most likely be taking MHJ. Titans signed Ridley and still currently have Hopkins. Giants have crap. But they did sign Isaiah McKenzie. I feel like one of the Giants or the Chargers are candidates to allow Minnesota to move up and make sure they get JJ McCarthy. Still a chance the top 3 WR's go before the Bears pick, but it would require the Chargers and Giants to go WR with their picks and not trade back.

Do we have any idea where they stand as far as cap space at this point? I feel like they still have about 35m left to spend minus the rookie money. Spotrac is showing 57m, but they haven't calculated Everett, Byard, Pryor or Obgombemiga into the totals.

I'm not necessarily saying they have to go out and get big name WR's at all 3 positions. I'm just saying they probably need 3 more WR's on the roster. I think they need someone in the Boyd, Samuel, Brown, Williams group and a top 3 draft pick at that position and either a day 3 WR or another free agent of some sort, even if it's bringing back someone like ESB. Right now, the roster at WR is DJ Moore and Tyler Scott. Velus can return kicks, so he's your 5th or 6th WR depending on how many they carry, and given Velus' inabilties, 6 is probably the amount they need. Webster or Johnson are practice squad fodder. So, you still need WR2, W3 and W4 or W5 depending on whether that person is better than Tyler Scott.

Yeah, well what did Tim ever give you?

Poles definitely has a style. It's definitely not a popular one with the fans. While most GM's approach the legal tampering period like it's opening bell at the stock market, Poles kinda just sits back and watches. Have to figure they still need a C, WR, WR, WR, EDGE, EDGE, DI, DI. There are still lower tier guys that can improve this roster in free agency, but he's probably going to have to get some of the better ones at most of those positions to make it a decent offseason. I'm really interested to see how he plans to improve the WR group.

Hard to argue that point when the NFL set a record for injuries at QB last year.

What was the nonsense about the Bears and White Sox sharing in the venture all about? Was I seeing things when I scrolled past that blurb in my feed? I trust it was only nonsense since no one shares venues anymore outside of the Meadowlands. Well, there is the LA stadium as well, but I was referring to cross sports anyway.

What if Poles doesn't want the Williams circus and likes Maye more, and did want to trade Fields and the first pick, but would be fine with Fields being the bridge to Maye? Still plenty of possibilities. Hell, Poles may not know what he wants. He still needs a meeting with the top pick to get inside his head.

I seriously doubt this boils down to Poles indecision. I just don't think anyone felt Fields was the guy to move them forward. He's cheap for one year, but he's not after that. It might just be that he was never going to be more than a backup somewhere wherever he ends up.

Cleveland comes to mind. They spent money like they have a QB1, but I'm not so sure they feel they are getting QB1 production.

I sense Minnesota trading up with someone to get McCarthy, making it 4 QB's going before the 9th pick.

Doncic giving the Bulls a nice welcome home with 15 points 6 boards and 7 assists in the first quarter. That guy is insane. 44-16 at the end of the first quarter.

I don't expect them to sign the biggest names at EDGE anyway. They already had a solid foundation. Fill with mid to upper tier talent at bargain prices.

I like the Sweat signing, even though I wasn't a big fan of spending free agency money at that position. His ability to catch and run will add more weapons to the offense. Need more weapons!

No love for Malik Nabers? I'm reading that he's clearly the 2nd best WR in the draft. There was concern about Odunze's separation skills and his 40 was pretty damn slow.

I think you are misunderstanding what I'm saying. I'm not really referring to the most respected of reporters. Some reporters are saying no one wants Fields at all. Some are saying the Bears can get a haul for trading him. I'm saying that Poles isn't letting on to reporters what it will take to move Fields, and the real answer as to what it will take is two teams negotiating a deal to make it happen. Poles wants more than teams are willing to give up. Therefore, those interested parties are purposely looking elsewhere, or pretending to not be interested until the price comes down. Because nothing is happening, garbage journalists are making up their own stories and pushing them out to social media to be something more than they are, opinion pieces. Since journalists have nothing to report, they throw stuff against the wall to appear relevant. The ridiculousness of social media is not just readers being ridiculous, it's also garbage reporters being ridiculous is my point. I saw something stupid from Greg Gabriel yesterday. Who was the guy who had to retract a story not all that long ago? I don't keep track, but I see it constantly as someone is attaching these stories to a lot of the pages I follow. Trying to disseminate what's real and what's BS is getting harder to do the crazier social media gets.

LOL. It's the reporters doing most of the discrediting, mainly because Poles isn't showing his hand, therefore they don't have anything to report except their own opinions. Draft picks are a valuable asset to teams along with cap space money. It's not hard to figure out what's going on. It's what happens every offseason. Teams try to maximize their trade bait while interested teams try to seem disinterested to drive down the price. Most journalists are trying to out-scoop or appear smarter than everyone else with their opinion pieces. The problem is that most of these opinions get passed off as some sort of fact, then social media runs with it.