jumbo

I did say in every post that I don't expect them to make any trades. I'd like it, and I think the valuation part is interesting, I even acknowledged that Pace could aggressively buy

So, I just posted in the other NFL thread that the NFC is terrible re: Saints making it in. But really, the NFC is terrible. The Bears are behind the 8-ball with 5 losses, but they definitely can sneak in again as an 8-win ish team. LA, Arizona, GB, Tampa, and Dallas are for sure in the playoffs. Lions are for sure not making it. The other teams are: Saints- starting Trevor Siemien/Taysom Hill 49ers- always injured, Jimmy G better keep playing like yesterday or they'll be playing a rookie QB WFT- QB situation is a mess NYG- Daniel Jones is their QB, team is worst than Bears PHI- Jalen Hurts is their QB SEA- Geno Smith is their QB MIN- Cousins is solid, Bears have a shot to take care of them to get edge CAR- Sam Darnold is their QB ATL- Ryan is old and team is worse than Bears And these teams are fighting for 2 spots. Nobody on this list seems like a sure bet to coast toward a wildcard berth. None are probably winning a playoff game anyway, but in the Bears situation, they gotta try to compete. They don't have a 1st so they need to win as many games as possible to make that pick further down in the draft. I honestly don't think they will trade anyone. Even trying to pseudo compete, I would still try to trade Robinson, Hicks, and one of the QBs. If anyone gives anything for Foles, that's a no-brainer. I'd also give up Dalton for a decent offer, though I think he's a guy they could bring back as the #2 next year. Bears got dead money counting for him anyway, may be able to lower that for a guy that Fields seems to genuinely like and learn from. Hicks, to me, is just taking up space. He's not a big difference maker so far this year. They've had good games without him, bad games like yesterday with him. Give the reps to other guys (Nichols, Blackson, Tonga) to see how big of a role they can have in the future. Robinson is a completely different situation though. He's obviously not performing this year, but maybe not completely his fault. May be killing his ability to get a 3rd round comp for him with his non-production. I think he's looking at a 1-year deal if things keep going this way. So, you're maybe looking 4th or 5th round comp. And that's in 2023 anyway. If the Bears can even get a 4th in 2022 for him, they gotta do it. They only have 5 picks (2 difference making picks) next year, another would be nice. 2022 picks are WAY more valuable than 2023 at this point, given the cap issues and like 32 free agents on the roster. Agree, I am not expecting any trades even though I want them to happen. Robinson and Hicks seem like possibilities and should be traded if a trade is out there. I expect the team to keep everyone to try to be the 7 seed again. If all those trades in the original post were made the bears would have: 2022: 2, 3, 3, 3, 5, 5, 5, 6, 7 2023: 1, 2, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 7 But we'll end up with 2022: 2, 3, 5, 5, 6 2023: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7 Pace said the team would be aggressive, so hopefully they don't trade more picks away to patch their holes

Yes, I agree. I don't think they're going to trade anyone because ownership/front office wants to complete. I wish they would acknowledge that every better team they've played has blown them out and try to recoup draft capital. Nagy wouldn't want to trade anyone Pace would if he was coming back Ownership could tell Pace he's coming back, then can him after the fire sale. I doubt it, though. I love trade deadlines, but the NFL is never anything like NBA/MLB. This team needs the draft capital to reload but I don't see them taking that route.

I looked up all the "who could the bears trade" stories. I don't think they'll trade anyone, but the list of players ranges from the reasonable (Robinson and Hicks), to the knee jerk (trade Montgomery because of Herbert), to the even beyond unlikely (Foles to New Orleans, Quinn to some contender, even Graham was listed as a trade target). I don't see ownership giving up on the season after they squeeked into the playoffs last year, and I don't see Pace being cold blooded enough to trade Nagy's guys and then firing him. This team doesn't look like it could beat any playoff team, but I can see ownership and Pace/Nagy thinking they could improve enough in season to do something. I was really most interested in the price for these trades Robinson was a 2022 2nd and 2023 5th, I would think a 3rd would be a good return Hicks was a 2022 5th Foles was a 2022 7th Montgomery 2022 3rd Quinn was listed as 2022 3rd There was also some Dalton speculation. I'd trade all these guys except Montgomery given the chance, even if the return wasn't awesome. I'm so sick of going into the drafts short on picks.

Okay I get that part. But don't go like what? The idea they shouldn't have gone after Fields in that spot becaus the line wasn't built out? (Dumb, and they still went amd at least tried to add two pieces anyways). The idea they shouldn't have spent money because of the cap? Dumb and wrong. i'm not agreeing with him, i think he's just saying the bears shouldn't keep bringing promising QBs into bad situations and expect it to ever be different The problem is that the offense and defense were polar opposites. The defense is a win-now unit and the offense was and is a complete mess, worse than a bad situation. In 2020 the team sold out on more defense with Quinn, practically no help to the offense except Foles. After teh team limped into the extra playoff spot ownership was too scared to can Pace and Nagy and went with status quo, hoping that the team would catch lightning in a bottle with Mitch out of the way and the promise of Andy Dalton? I can't even believe it as I write it. Such a comedy of errors

Is there any chance the Bears trade Robinson or any other player on an expiring contract? I don't think they can trade much of anyone that is signed through next year because their cap hit will accelerate to this year, not enough space. I would guess that this is too early for the team to throw in the towel on the season, but it should be obvious that this team will not advance in the playoffs if they could manage to make it. As raw said earlier, they can win against other mediocre teams but are obviously outclassed by the upper tier. Players signed through 21 season and could be valued in trade: ARob Hicks (groin) --major gap-- Graham --another gap-- Ogletree SS Gipson --bad joke-- ODonnell Scales

Davante Adams kind of beat him pretty solidly on Sunday. Not a ton of catches, but a couple big plays. But IIRC, they had to move him to the slot, in a position that Johnson isn't used to playing, in order to have success. Johnson shut him down on the outside whenever Adams was lined up there. Slot corner is a major need for this team. Vildor might be better in the slot than the boundary, but Shelley & the rest are pretty underwhelming. Let's see what their other major needs are now/this offseason: LT Jenkins insurance RT Starter or Borom insurance RG if Daniels not resigned C upgrade on Mustipher (maybe not major) WR to replace ARob WR to fill out balance of roster after Mooney TE to replace Graham (resign James maybe) SS if Gipson not resigned It feels like there is still so much work to do to this roster, and next draft will be 2, 3, 5, 5, 6 (I don't think we'll be getting any comp picks based on all the needs and not much in the way of attractive FA leaving) Cap space for all the above is going to be tight, even with a cost controlled rookie contract QB and LT (and maybe RT)

But Nagy signed Glennon and drafted Trubisky. True, I forgot Glennon. The Trubisky part was in my FA comments, so wasn't considering him in that category, though obviously picking Deshaun was the no-brainer that no was not, but fair point.

Fields has to be good on a really strong scale IMO. It's not enough to develop Fields, there has to be strong offense output. But there's also a somewhat related point. This offense might just not be good enough of a supporting cast for Fields to put up strong numbers. While that isn't an indictment of Nagy, it is of Pace. And Pace should be on shaky footing IMO too. And Nagy certainly can't survive Pace getting the axe. And if Pace and Nagy never got secret extensions, Pace's contract is done this year and Nagy is entering a lame duck final year. So it's likely a choice between cutting ties or re-upping to the tune of 3-4 years. I think Pace is more or less avaerage when it comes to the draft. He has hit on late rounds studs/steals. He has blown early picks. It is a crap shoot for most teams to some degree. His big weakness is his use of multiple picks to get one player (Anthony Miller, David Montgomery, Jenkins) He's had some success in FA, but also made some really bad calls: Jimmy Graham at his price, Quinn was looking bad but may have turned things around - too soon to say, choosing Trevathan over Kwitkowski, Dion Sims for $15MM. Happens to every GM, I know. Hicks was a brilliant signing, so were so many other rotational DL, ARob was a great signing. The QB's I'll put on Nagy, as I don't think Pace targets either without Nagy's input. To sum up, I'd be fine with moving on from Pace for his handling of the OL the last few years. The rest of his track record seems about league average.

Biggs said he wouldn’t be taken off injured reserve this week because they usually do it ahead of the current week’s practices and he’s not practicing. Next week looks probable. Any updates on Jenkins or Cohen? Elijah Wilkinson is kind of bad, so getting Borom back sooner rather than later would be ideal. However, I must say I would be a little disappointed with him starting at RT instead of LT. This year is mostly about the long-term outlook and I would love to see him get some more reps at LT. Though, any reps are better than no reps. Maybe Jenkins comes back with 4-5 games left and gets reps at the other side, but it would be really nice if the Bears went into 2022 with at least 1 proven tackle on a rookie deal. I was hoping that Borom would be available to fill in for Peters if/when he gets hurt and then be the incumbent LT. Let Jenkins heal up on his natural RT side. Or switch them if you want, I think Borom looks no worse than Wilkinson or Ifedi and would think he could improve into a serviceable T.

Has anyone heard anything about Borom? I think he had a high ankle sprain, which could be quite a while, maybe 6 weeks? Jenkins is likely out all season still, I don't think there's been any update on him and not expecting anything.

I give Nagy credit for keeping the team together and not folding after the losing streak last year. He has some good coachiness. The players play hard for him. I get it, he was brought it to fix the offense and he has failed at that. It’s a shot at your pride when Lazor is clearly better at doing what you were called in to do. It’s beneficial for the team for Nagy to not be calling plays. Yes, be involved in putting the game plan together. But for the sake of the team, just publicly admit that Lazor is the man on Sundays. This is exactly it. I’ve commented before on Nagy’s leadership abilities. The team mostly seems to like him and play hard for him. But the fact that he’s so hung up on playcalling to the point where he was willing to go down with the ship says a lot about his ego and his ability to make the best decisions for the team. If he steps away from playcalling completely I’m willing to have at least a little patience with him. I think Nagy does get the players to buy in, but I'm still pretty frustrated that the entire starting defense (except Roquan) skipped the voluntary activities this offseason, especially when they got torched by LA. I listen to Brad Biggs on the onday after the games, and he commented on Nagy's quote that Eddie Jackson and Tashaun Gipson didn't miss touching the downed Ram due to lack of effort by saying, don't talk to me about how much the guys care when they skip mini camp. And maybe it's meatbally, but it's hard for me to square how much the guys care with skipping camps, voluntary or not. I do think Nagy should move into the "Executive Coach" role and just hand off the offense to whomever it is, but I would love it if he could get guys to care enough to come to the voluntary sessions. On the other hand, maybe he doesn't care and wants to be cool with them, I don't know.

A future GOP senator. Give him a bow tie and he's Football Tucker Carlson <>

Oh I know, that's all those shows do is overreact with extreme takes. I just thought it was funny Yeah, and it's laughable that people say, "wow, did you see what Orlovsky said?" I'm mostly just amazed that he managed to scream more loudly than Stephen A and the rest of their crew.

I haven't followed the NBA for a long time, but started too a little on AK came in. Is there a simple explanation for the trade exemption/salary cap primer? I'll go somewhere to read it but if someone has some shorthand or quick explainer it would be appreciated. Fun to watch all the dealing regardless

I'd love to see Notre Dame end up in the Big Ten. Not sure if there's history of ND specifically spurning the Big Ten moreso than any conference. I guess they might owe the ACC for letting them in last year, but as a midwest guy I'd prefer the Big Ten

I actually think Nagy is going to do this [expletive]. He already had this mapped out for Mitch when he was the backup last year. Of course Mitch injured himself on the very first play and was out multiple weeks but I’m sure Fields will be just fine. I'd be OK with it, if it's done for the right reason. If Fields isn't comfortable with the entire playbook and has certain things that he does well but you can't build an entire offensive gameplan around those things, then it makes sense. But nothing about Fields leads me to believe that will be the case. He transferred to Ohio St in January, threw TD passes in the April spring game, and completed 72% of his passes and accounted for 5 TDs in his first game in August. So, I have no doubts the guy who eats, sleeps and breathes football can't have this offense as close to mastered as possible from April to September with reps in rookie, mini, and training camps, and preseason games while not having to worry about a college courseload. Yes, this was my thinking, to allow him to execute things that Fields is learning and gaining confidence in.

This may be a terrible idea, but I was thinking it would be fun if Nagy made a limited package of plays for Field every week. It could be situational, like in the red zone, or just a random series with Fields coming out to run a play or a few plays. If each time the package was unique it would be like a trick play that Nagy loves, and if they were solidifying game installs for him bit by bit then it could actually help his development. Mostly I think it would be fun for another team to know he was going to randomly get in the game and force them to adjust to something very different than Dalton.

Could also get the Super Bowl in Chicago with a new/domed stadium, for whatever that's worth

Smart move to consider the OL talent/execution and opportunity to gel before getting FIelds a bunch of shots from free runners. Also, Fields reportedly held the ball so long because OSU's offense was built around deep shots that required more time for receivers to get downfield. I think Nagy will have a lot of short-medium passes, and FIelds will have the ability to roll out/move the pocket and create more time for those routes. I do get concerned about the hits he might take running a lot, but hopefully he will have the instincts to slide and get out of bounds and avoid most of those hits.

This has kind of been hinted at a few times this offseason. They were cool with going all in for Wilson, but not so much for an unproven rookie. It makes sense on paper, but the principle of it all is terrible. That being said, Ben Allbright, who seems to be pretty connected says that he thinks Fields may still be on the board into the teens. If the Bears don't feel comfortable trading to 6 or 8, and he could be on the board at 13 or so, I could see the Bears jumping in front of NE to grab Fields and it wouldn't cost too much. That being said, that totally requires the football Gods smiling down on the Bears for the first time literally ever so.... I'm amazed at how Fields has fallen from clear #2 pick at the start of the college football season to fourth or fifth QB on the board. Wilson seems awesome, but he did it for one season against weak competition. Jones seems to have a limited ceiling compared to the other four in his athleticism, and also did it for one season with an NFL roster around him. Lance hasn't played since 2019 and started for one season, too. Fields has had some awful games, but he also balled out against Clemson after taking that big hit. If he fells to 13 somehow I would expect Pace to go up and get him. And I'd be hapy about it. Not sure what it would take to get there, maybe a 2nd and next years first?

Yeah, I don't know how they grade/allow trades, but I did another one where I got 4 other teams first rounders.

Decided to platy around with the PFF mock draft simulator....don't know a ton about the players down the list in the draft, but here's what happened [attachment=0]Mock_3-28_1.jpg[/attachment]

Considering Seattle just lost Griffin, watch them nab Fuller JOKES ON US Not seeing Fuller as big time loss, he's on the downside of his career. Fuller would be a very big loss if the Bears actually think they can make the playoffs. Without him, they would have to sign someone close to equal, which would cost at least $10M. Finding a way to stay under the cap with him, let him walk in FA next year gets you likely a 4th rd comp pick in 23 draft. This is part of the problem with Pace - he signs players to contracts that they never finish. They get cut before the end of the deal and forfeit any comp picks. He has been fortunate with Hicks, Arob, and Trevathan's first contract and a few stop gap guys like Prince and the DL/SS carousel. He can't pull it off on offense, though. Taylor Gabriel, Trey Burton, renewing Massie was a mistake - should have let him walk, there are many more - not even getting into Robert Quinn. Serenity now!