BigSlick
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Everything posted by BigSlick
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I don't think thats quite true - or at least, there's wiggle room there. If Williams is adequate, good or very good, and the team around him is very good, Poles will be fine. If Williams is amazing and the team around him is bad, Poles could very well be in trouble. (A QB being amazing and the team itself being bad is a bit of an exceptional situation because its very likely the team will at least be OK if he's amazing, just by virtue of his play, but it can happen)
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Just for the record, I'll just say I'll be perfectly content if we're a 2020s Bills where we're consistently great and lose in the playoffs This would be a significant upgrade over where the Bears have been for the past 25 years
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Legitimately feel bad for Fields. He's probably gonna have to wait another month or so, but it'll be over soon, man.
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I would say its likely a lot easier to build a team around a guy who's a rung below Mahomes (Thinking about Lamar, Josh Allen, Burrow, Herbert, etc.) who even takes a 50 mill/yr salary hit with young talent you get from the draft on first year deals than it is to build the team and hope you strike gold with a Purdy. The other thing about those guys, is it keeps your window open for a long time - you might get several bites at the apple over a 10+ year career while your roster rises and falls, whereas if you do the SF thing, everything has to line up perfectly contract, development, aging, and then it passes.
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As someone who's only paid intermittent attention to the NFL between the Cutler years and when Fields was drafted, I'm simply gobsmacked at how much middling starting QBs can get on a contract. The fact that like, $40 mill a year is like, the standard for a Good QB is astronomical to me. But I guess... that's an accurate market if you value QBs where they're supposed to be. I dunno. It's wild. Seeing that Jordan Love is expected to get 40+ mil a year on his contact extension based on (admittedly a very good!) one year of play is wild. (And obviously there are the obvious blunders like Daniel Jones and DeShaun Watson, which will cripple a team for years)
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It's impossible to know really, there are all sorts of conflicting reports. Some say that Tomlin absolutely loves Fields and wants him https://www.si.com/nfl/steelers/news/pittsburgh-steelers-mike-tomlin-interested-justin-fields All of it is tea leaves reading, unfortunately, until the trades start flying. Its of course in every teams best interest to keep their motives secret and have a bunch of contradictory reports out. But....I am concerned that the market for Fields might not be very strong. Its a great draft for QBs, there are a handful of decent free agent QBs...its not great timing to try to unload him.
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I will NEVER pay money for some nerd to shout numbers at me
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I think the biggest problem with keeping Fields is, ironically, that he's such a nice guy and is very well-liked by the locker room. This would be exponentially worse than the Andy Dalton thing because... everyone likes Fields and doesn't want to get rid of him - how the heck is Caleb Williams supposed to deal with that when it's time for Fields to go. But yeah, I don't think you honestly need a bridge QB. You put Williams out there and see how he does. He's started for 3 years in college, he'll turn 23 during the 2024 season (hilariously enough, he's only 1.5 years younger than Fields), he's a big boy - I don't think you need to worry about ruining him by letting him start out the gate. (Bookmark this post 3 years from now if I'm disastrously wrong)
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It all depends on how good we expect Williams to be coming out the gate. Nobody should expect or depend a rookie to be as good as CJ Stroud was, but on the other hand, this team is significantly better than the 2023 Texans were, so that has to be accounted for. If Williams isn't a disaster, this team should be better than last year. But the range of possible play from him is as wide as the equator - one can expect anything from Cade McNown-unfathomably-bad to CJ Stroud-holy-horsefeathers-this-guy-is-a-stud I wouldn't be shocked, but I would be marginally displeased, if they got a bridge QB for 2024 (or, unlikely, but possible, that they keep Fields for a bridge year). I get it, but I also think Williams is good enough to start, warts and all, plus, as a fan, I'm impatient and I want to see what he's got.
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It was time, but it is sad to see Eddie Jackson go. He gave us some real fun moments, but he's clearly passed his prime and can't stay healthy. I will NOT say the same thing for Whitehair.
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THANK you
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Sudden death when it was a mere field goal was horrible. It would be even worse today where the kick off is virtually eliminated, you get the ball on the 25, and offenses are more high powered than they've ever been. 70% of the time the kicking team would never get the ball again.
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Yeah at no point did I think getting the ball first was definitively the wrong call - but this was literally the first game I've seen where they used the new rules. I wish the NFL just took on Soccer rules and had a full quarter (no sudden death, no trading possessions, just 15 minutes of football) as how overtime works. If, after an extra quarter of play, it remains tied, in the regular season its a tie. If its the playoffs, you keep playing quarters until one ends with someone with a lead. Simple enough. I don't get it.
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This was an exceedingly entertaining game but the thing that most struck me was how the Niners played an archetypical Bears game: Dominate much of the game defensively, mediocre QB play, squander turnovers/chances, lose late to a better QB.
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I would loooooove the Bears on Hard Knocks. It's such a pain in the ass the ownership wants it less than anything else.
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I don't feel any sort of confidence making a bet on the winner of this game. I usually feel some sort of leaning, and if all things were equal, I'd take the 49ers - but given the Niners have come off two of their worst games and the Chiefs two of their best make me feel like I should just stay away from it. It's a coin flip.
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well I really hope I'm not wrong because I'm utterly incapable of doing a backflip
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If you get a 2nd for Fields, I’d be ecstatic. If you get a FIRST for him, I’m doing a backflip
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I don’t truly believe there’s any chance Caleb will refuse to play here but if he does, you trade down to 2, get as much as you can and you roll the dice with Maye. but I really won’t start doombonering about it until someone other than Colin Cowherd trying to get a bunch of attention (which he succeeded marvelously at) reports something definitive. The fact that Cowherd had to walk it back (and it sounded from him that the Williams camp was kinda pissed) leads me to believe there’s nothing truly there.
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Ok - now look at all the other teams Caleb could go to and tell me why the Bears situation is worse for an incoming QB. Look at Wash, NE, AZ, NYG, etc down the line, and tell me why those teams seem far friendlier to a rookie QB. (You can't. Because their rosters are way worse and they have way more upheaval in the front office)
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It's a very annoying narrative that appears to have very little or zero substance behind it. I get that there's like 2.5 months before the draft, but people can't let boredom and lazy narratives drive them into irresponsible journalism.
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It's truly remarkable how different the mindset of the average, casual Bears fan is from folks who are a bit nuts (like me) who pay more obsessive attention to the Bears and the NFL at large. The casual Bears fan thinks Fields is great, promising, and is a no doubter to stick with. And the average Bears fan is irrationally gun-shy about moving on from someone that can at least appear to be a competent QB. There's almost a traumatic response to it. But read what fans of other teams think of Fields - he's largely regarded as a mediocre QB. People are aware he can make spectacular plays, but there's....not really anyone clamoring for him. We shouldn't be satisfied with mediocrity, just because he's a nice guy who by all signs is beloved in the locker room and does everything right - outside of football. It's tragic in that regard. As a person, he's everything Jay Cutler is not. But it's also like, normal football stuff to move on from a guy when you get a chance like the Bears do.
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Is he? I would think he is, but Poles and ownership may think “he’s got a rookie QB” and give him even more leeway in 2024. I almost can’t fathom giving a guy 3 seasons of grace (especially if he can’t manage a winning season in 2024) but they might.
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If it was 2005 or 2010, the team would keep Fields to start while Caleb sits and learns. But teams are a lot more comfortable starting rookies these days (and trading in the NFL is far more common) I will say, if you can’t get at least a high 3rd or better for Fields, I’m not sure the return for him is large enough to justify dealing him when you’re gonna want an experienced player at QB available as a QB1 or 2 after drafting Williams. (I can’t imagine the team would be happy with Bagent as your other backup/bridge starter/whatever). So, I dunno.
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Agreed! It's pretty low risk and low cost to continuously look for QB prospects you might like in the later rounds. I'd also put a premium on guys who were super productive in college but maybe didn't hit the measurables super well. I think we're seeing that pure number of snaps is a pretty decisive advantage for QB prospects. The more they play, the more they've had to adjust to defenses, the more looks they've had pre-snap, the line calls they've had to make, etc. etc. etc - all great advantages. I will always be far more reticent want to draft a QB who only played 1 year as a starter, no matter how impressive they look.
