jumbo

Despite the tons of money the Bears have to spend, I still expect them to look for value in free agency. That's not to say they will bargain shop like last year. I explained this somewhere else, but my example is this. Da'Ron Payne, he's probably going to get 22Mil AAV on the open market. 2nd highest paid DT makes 21AAV, so I'd guess at 25, he gets a touch more. But as long as Aaron Donald is around, he'll be the 2nd highest paid DT and the best case scenario is his play is that of the 2nd best DT in the league. And based on his salary (and others right below him) we know that level of DT play is worth about 20-22Mil per year. Basically, there's 0 chance he provides surplus value over his cost because you're already paying him tops at his position. A guy like Dre'Mont Jones from Denver, may cost like 15Mil/year, but he could give you top 10-15 DT level play on the field, which may be worth like 16-18Mil, so essentially you could get a surplus in value because there is a chance (no matter how slight) that he outperforms his salary in any given year. So, I still think Poles will spend a bunch of money (again he has to). But I do think he will be smart about it. He will look for ascending players, who are still young, potentially improving, and have been successful in smaller roles. And honestly, this is how all teams should look at adding in free agency, if they aren't surely one of the top 5 contenders missing singular pieces here and there. Once in a while I’ll go to over the cap and look at free agents by position. I typically sort by age and snaps played to try to identify young starting grade players, typically looking at 27 or so and under. I think poles will do what you said and target up and comers. The snaps played thing is flawed cuz teams like us play Jones and Mustihoer all season due to lack of competition/depth Side note on jones being on the pff all rookie team: how many rookie tackles actually play from game 1? Generally a handful, but him doing it as a 5th round pick says more about the bears than him (though I do credit him on his transition to a 17game season)

This was the JaMarcus Webb OL if I remember right? Cutler got hammered year after year and never got the protection he needed. Cutler's dumb and a meathead but I was a huge fan of his. He got such a bad rap in the national media

Not sure hot to post a tweet, but he tweeted something like “it’s been real, Cubs” after his one month with the org I liked it

That’s the MO Says dumb horsefeathers, get outrage clicks

It's more like a Venn diagram where they have overlapping skill sets, but not necessarily with all of them at the same spot. Same with each player's weak spots. But, I agree it just depends on what the team's front offices key on. Young has the highest "football IQ"/game awareness, but he's not the most gifted physically. If he were five inches taller there wouldn't be any question that he is the clear #1. Yea certainly more nuanced than my chart. And, yea, I think if he had better size, he'd be a clear #1. What's he actually expected to come in at? He's listed at 6'0" 194, but seems like consensus is he's gonna measure smaller on both, by a lot. If he somehow measured at that height/weight he may clear the hurdle just enough for some teams who would be out if he's 5'10" 180. On Hoge and Jahns an "expert" guest said he is smaller than Kyler (acknowledged Kyler is heavier/built thicker) Kyler's combine numbers we 5' 10"/207

RedZone channel again!

I did a mock draft where I traded back with Indy and got DeForest Buckner, then traded back with Atlanta and got Kyle Pitts, then drafted Skoronski at 7. Completely unrealistic but fun. We're going to see a lot of bad spending during FA. Many will be roasting the money Poles is giving out, but he kind of has no choice as Wrigley has pointed out. I think Jersey said something about not punting offseasons, and our forced spending this FA is going to look ugly in a lot of cases. I'm not really sure who all is going to be even available. So many receivers were traded for/resigned. Packers just kept Jenkins off the market. It will happen many more times with other attractive targets. I'm sure there will be some good players out there still, and Poles needs to fire the money cannon at the best players available and can do so without much regard for players already on the roster. A RG is the best lineman available, horsefeathers it, sign him and move him or Jenkins to LG. Saquan is the best pure playmake available, horsefeathers it, sign him. Best defender is a corner, sign him. Just get the best players instead of trying to fit some niche of the defense. Let your coaches coach the good traits and position the guys for success. I'm ramlbing, but it's hard to be really optimistic about the offseason/FA period knowing that many of the best players are being taken off the market.

I've always been team "let him get reps" but if they are going to gameplan and playcall and have the personnel that they did Saturday, there's no reason to play him in that mess. If Claypool is a go, I do see the value in getting reps with him and Velus (they should get a ton of targets each). But if no Claypool, there's not much to gain by him playing. Having this lack of talent hurts him more than helps him. What habit is he going to develop beyond throwing into every tight window every pass since no WR can separate? I agree with your point about the talent around him. It’s risky for him to be out there with that line, with the compound argument of him starting to “see ghosts” or have the mental side impacted. At this point, part of you wants him to play and another pArt doesn’t. But some of us use the tanking as a tiebreaker

I wouldn't mind it. I'm just not sure if the Bears will do it or not. I didn't really expect Poles to sell off MLB-style early in the season either. He pretty much broadcast that he's tanking, so sitting Fields seems to be is in line with that. Wouldn't they have sit Fields Saturday though? The put him out there yet obviously protected him. It's 50/50 for me. I wouldn't be surprised either way. If it was me I'd shut him down, but it's not me. I think you can justify sitting him the final 2 games over the final 3 games. He sat out the final drive, you can say it was because of the nagging injuries (shoulder, foot, ankle or whatever) and that it's just become too much. Plus, they just had the bye so you wouldn't have brought him back for 1 week post bye. I think the odds are something like 60/40 starting next week, and maybe 80/20 the final week. Playing indoors hopefully with Claypool could be a good oppotunity, but if there is anything to the shoulder being aggrevated just shut him down. He does need good reps, but these are not really that....more broken plays than anything. Put in Peterman, let the Texans knock off the Colts week 18, trade from 1 to 3 or 4 and still get either Anderson or Carter, horsefeathers yeah.

Eagles are good but not great. But it's difficult to know for sure because they aren't tested that often due to the weak NFC. If I was laying money I'd put it on them to come out of the NFC but not because I think they're awesome. Agreed they can be had in the playoffs. I saw the list of QBs they played once and I think they missed a few starters or something else that gave them a much easier schedule. I could be remembering another team.

I don’t know who runs things there but Kingsbury in year 5 with up and down success so far doesn’t seem like a good tank option. They may just lose anyway. They're also in a tough spot having just extended both Kingsbury and Kiem, so I'm not banking on it. But it's slightly more likely now than it was 24 hours ago. Those extenstions feel like when Emery extended Cutler, kind of forced. Sort of like extending Murray at that top shelf money, too. I don't know that the Owner/GM/Head Coach had a better option at the time, but that seemed like a lot at the time for a guy who hasn't accomplished all that much while having some good players around him.

Green Bay is still bad against the run and particularly against the QB run. Honestly, the Bears should have the similar approach that they did last game (GB should as well, TBF). I'm actually mostly fine with Fields running, as long as he doesn't get hit. Most of the scrambles, he doesn't take hits. It's the designed off tackle QB runs that are the most dangerous. I'd love to see them drop back as well, but that also scares me. Go to Claypool deep early and often. I want to see them drop the zone read. Atlanta just went for Fields every time, which is kind of the book on that play. Hit the QB every time even if they hand off and deal with the RB getting what they get.

I saw this the other day and it's like a pre-moneyball type scenario. Trading three firsts for a guy you haven't scouted, then actual draft day trades are nuts. I realize it's not supposed to be realistic (or made for NFL Draftniks) but it was like watching another sport. The actual draft resembles that movie about as much as baseball resembles cricket. I still watched it cuz its a "fun" sports movie. And I think about the next draft pretty early, so its good subject matter.

Should it be Pete Carroll that gets the ring? I thought he came in and killed the trade. That would have been the ultimate pace parting gift: three firsts traded for a dead russ on a trash team with no picks

Next town over, but yes Where at? I'm from South Bend. Mom still lives there. Mishawaka We've lived here since 2005. Love the smaller town vibe, no traffic, both our parents are close. Two hours to Chicago/Indy/Grand Rapids

Yeah, I don't really tweet or know people on Twitter. There is one real person following me, so I've got that going Followed. Are you actually in South Bend? My sister and Bro in law moved there about 3 years ago (both work at ND). Next town over, but yes

I didn't realize this was your twitter handle, always thought it was an Eagles fan. But I get why you have Howie pictured. Good thread, I'm following now (along with raw) Are you the 5 follower dude? I was gonna ignore based on a presumed suspicion of 5 follower accounts :lol: Yeah, I don't really tweet or know people on Twitter. There is one real person following me, so I've got that going

I didn't realize this was your twitter handle, always thought it was an Eagles fan. But I get why you have Howie pictured. Good thread, I'm following now (along with raw)

The Super Bowl last year nearly swung on what could either have been a face mask or an offensive PI on the Higgins TD to start the second half. It would be tricky but I wouldn’t be opposed to the officials reviewing all scoring plays and turnovers to make sure no obvious penalties directly led to the score/TD, like the two examples above. So I’m not talking about a hold by the OL. It would be tough to implement but I think they could look into it. TD are more common than goals in soccer but not by much. This isn’t basketball. Makes me wonder what a game would look like with no penalties in the rulebook. All running game, no ability to pass? Teams full of 260# linebackers beating the hell out of each other. How would the offensive and defensive strategies game out?

Ha Touche, to both of you

screen shot of their last 11 1st rd picks It's amazing to have Rodgers as a Qb and be that concerned with the defense on draft day Watching the Packers trade up to draft Jordan Love after all the complaining from Rodgers about getting him help at WR was one of the funniest things ever. Does this mean that Braxton blocked for J-Love?

I was amazed at how people reacted around ND when Kelly left, so I'm routing for him to win in LSU. He's a red-ass kind of guy, but he fixed ND to probably the greatest extent possible following their comedy of errors in hiring coaches since Lou Holtz. It's kind of an experiment to see if Kelly is a good enough coach to win in a rich recruiting environment instead of ND.

I follow PFF Brad on Twitter. He has pretty unbiased analysis even though he is somewhat of a Bears fan. He said giving the Ravens' second would be an overpay. I think he said Khan "fleeced" Poles by getting the Bears' second instead. I think everyone feels like it's an overpay, but so is free agency. Why, because you have to have the best offer to get what you want. I'm overall encouraged that more resources are going to the offense instead of defense to right what has been a franchise-long wrong to some extent. Oh, also, I listen to no one from ESPN. It is the network of who can scream the loudest. Not interested in that. Brad is one of my favorite follows. But I immediately noticed that the trade chart he developed basically calls the 2nd round difference the value of a 7th. I didn't directly @ him about it, but someone eventually did. Kind of funny. Ha - you have to appreciate the fact that he is intellectually honest about being wrong. Few are these days, so kudos to him and McCarron who asked the question. This also makes me feel better about the trade and the value. One trade back or manuever could offer a chance to recoup that value easily.

I follow PFF Brad on Twitter. He has pretty unbiased analysis even though he is somewhat of a Bears fan. He said giving the Ravens' second would be an overpay. I think he said Khan "fleeced" Poles by getting the Bears' second instead. I think everyone feels like it's an overpay, but so is free agency. Why, because you have to have the best offer to get what you want. I'm overall encouraged that more resources are going to the offense instead of defense to right what has been a franchise-long wrong to some extent. Oh, also, I listen to no one from ESPN. It is the network of who can scream the loudest. Not interested in that.

His interception was a really good play too. Yes, Zappe held it way too long before making the throw, but he was in pretty good coverage and made a good play on the ball. Gordon basically refused to score a TD on that one. He certainly could have outrun everyone down the sidelines if he wanted to. I thought that was odd, but he was tired and the game was over at that point. Didn't Tywuan Thornton run him down? He was the fastest receiver at the combine with a 4.28 or something crazy