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Cuts were pretty obvious. They aren't going to cut Floyd. 13M is obviously more than his production would indicate he should be paid. But he is a solid player. If you cut him, sure you gain 13M in space, but you still need an OLB with Floyd, you need 2 without him. And while 13M can do a lot of damage, to actually upgrade from Floyd would cost at least 10-12Mil on a long-term deal. And most of the guys in that price range will upgrade the pass rush, but downgrade the edge run D, which Floyd is really good at. I think the Bears try to sign him long-term, to lower the cap hit. Something like 4 years/40 mil, guaranteeing 18-20Mil. Floyd gets more guarantees, Bears get a lower cap hit, and basically only 1 extra year as they'd be able to get out with minimal dead cap after 2021. If he doesn't take the deal, I'm fine with paying him 13Mil in his walk year. Not ideal, but the Bears need him. I'd love to cap off the edge position by bringing in a pass rush specialist. My ideal guy would be Bruce Irvin (reuniting with Mack). He only played for 4Mil in Carolina last year, and had a career high 8.5 sacks. Ironically, my 1B choice for pass rush specialist would be Mario Addison who had 9.5 sacks for the same Carolina team. Offer both like 2/12 and see who bites first. 5Mil first year, 7Mil 2nd, but not guaranteed so there's a 1-year out. 2020- Mack, Floyd, Irvin, late round pick 2021- Mack, Floyd/Irvin (if Floyd on extension, cut Irvin; if no extension, keep Irvin a 2nd year), 2nd round pick, 2020 late pick 2022- Mack, 2021 2nd rounder, 2020 late pick, depending on how 2nd round works out can either spend or draft for 3rd/4th guy As for Carr, I honestly think he's the best option potentially out there. That being said, I don't see it happening. The Raiders would have to get a better QB to agree to come to Vegas and play for a team that may/may not be a contender. If they cut him, maybe, but when you have to give up picks for him? That's a no-go. Same for Dalton. Not trading for a QB and paying him a bunch of money. Ultimately, I really don't think the Bears go all out for a QB. Trubisky is going to be the starter. Think about it. There's a bunch of people (Bears fans, media members) who can't even agree what the Bears biggest offensive problem is. There are some that say OL, some say playcalling, some say lack of a run game, some say lack of TE production, the correct ones say QB play. But the Bears hired a new OL coach and will add a starting RG in free agency. The Bears added more guys to help with playcalling/design. They added coaches to help get the run game going. They added a QB coach. They have also said this offseason that they see Mitch as the guy still. I don't think Pace is going to add a guy that will clearly win a legit competition against Mitch, like Carr or Bridgewater or Brady. They are going to add to all those other pieces so they can really determine if the major issue is the QB. And if the QB is the issue, they are going to try to put the team in a better position to overcome that by changing that issue on the fly if necessary. If they trade for a QB with a 17M cap hit, they aren't going to be able to fix all those other things. So, I'm thinking we're going to be looking at a Keenum, Mariota (though same agent as Mitch), or Dalton signing if he is cut.

Same guy is saying the Bears are offering Khalil Mack in a trade for multiple 1st, 2nd and/or 3rd round picks. And now are talking with the Redskins about moving to the #2 pick. I mean it's pretty far fetched, but seems like he's doubling down on the original rumor because the only way the Bears have the ammo to move up to 1 is if they move Mack for anything close to what they paid for him. Trading Mack to try to get up to 1 would be the boldest move in the history of sports.

Yep. Transferred from IU to Illinois St, where he took them to the FCS championship (lost to Carson Wentz, FWIW). Moved to CB for the NFL, got a tryout with the Vikings, and subsequently signed to the practice squad. I seem to remember him having a good preseason in 2017, but he was back and forth on the practice squad for a year + before going to Canada. 10 INTs in 2 years. Looks like a good tackler with decent ball skills. I've kinda lowkey followed his career because of his start at IU.

Link Going to call BS on this. I don't doubt that teams said that to Allbright. I doubt that he bombed interviews so bad that one of the teams he interviewed hired Adam Effing Gase instead of him. He satisfied the Rooney Rule for all those teams, except the Dolphins. I think most teams already know who they want, especially when it's a situation where the coach has experience and is out of the league the previous year (Arians, McCarthy).

I love Flip as a coach. Some mixed results the last few years. Got rave reviews for his work with Wentz, including his near MVP season before he got hurt. Foles was SB MVP with him as Eagles QB coach. Went to the Vikings and got fired before the end of a year because Kirk Cousins was trash. Cousins has since played better without him, with fewer valleys. Foles got injured Week 1, but then got benched when he came back so Flip couldn't rekindle that magic. But he did get a decent year out of a 6th round rookie, Gardner Minshew. Mixed results in 1 season as Browns OC. Raiders QB coach with Jamarcus Russell, who famously gave his QB a blank DVD and told him to watch the plays on it to see which ones he liked, to which Russell got caught lying that he watched it. Mitch is getting all the help he can ever want to succeed. New run game coordinator and OL coach to try to improve that area. New OC who is a former QB coach. New QB coach, who has called played. Keeps Ragone, who was the QB coach. And a head coach who is a former QB coach. My only concern is a "too many cooks in the kitchen" situation. These guys have all worked with each other, though not all together at the same time.

Jimbo Covert and Ed Sprinkle become the 29th and league leading, 30th Hall of Famers from the Chicago Bears.

I think if he comes out he'll be a top 3 TE. Probably go right around the Bears 2nd pick (50).

There is really something to be said about the wear and tear of the NFL season. Henry had nearly 600 yards in his last 4 games last season. It's truly a weapon to have a 260lb RB in December and January when defenses have played several hundred physical snaps.

Eagles also seem like potential competition for Pat Shurmur.

TE coach for Kyle Rudolph's last pro bowl season. TE coach for Julius Thomas' only 2 pro bowl seasons TE coach for 2 of Antonio Gates' pro bowl seasons. Julius Thomas is the one of interest here as he was the TE coach for all of Thomas's seasons in Denver. So, he "developed" him.

2013 was an interesting draft. Really bad at the top with Fisher, Joeckel, Mingo, Jon Cooper, Tavon Austin, and Dion Jordan failing to live up to expectations. But then you have some absolute studs down in the draft like Hopkins, Slay, Ertz, Leveon, Kelce, Armstead, Keenan Allen, etc. Long probably gets propped up a bit, because he was the face of the franchise after the Lovie era which had a bunch of personalities. He lasted thru the end of the Cutler era, one of the few Trestman era survivors. Basically the Bears version of Starlin Castro. But I agree with that last part. I think fans are looking at it as Pace has had 5 years to turn things around. But I think internally, they see him building a long-term contender. They see the talent he has amassed and I don't think starting over is something they see as an option. May or may not have forced Fox on him as a hire to turn around the lockerroom. Young GM and young coach leads me to believe this is a long-term move. I'm fully expecting Pace to get another shot to pick a QB.

Was wondering when Joe Judge would get a chance to take the reins as a head coach. Glad to see this guy I've never heard of get his due. Guess it's horsefeathers the Rooney Rule though.

Brees had 2 seasons since 2011 under a 100 QB rating. The last was a 97 in 2014 (the other was the season Payton was suspended, and still a 96). Still well above average for that season and above any other season in NFL history. He hasn't anything close to a season as bad as Brady's 2019, since San Diego.

Tom Brady is done. There was a point where me as a football fan was watching that game last night, and the feeling that "the great Tom Brady will find a way to pull this out" went out of my body. I don't know the exact moment that happened, but this was Peyton Manning's last season in Denver, but without the defense carrying him. I think the last several weeks (maybe all season IDK), Brady has just looked slow. Slow processing, slower release, slower to react to pressure, less velocity on the actual football. He finished with an 88 QB rating. That's below the league average and in the territory of guys like Jacoby Brissett (who the Colts have stated is probably not the guy), rookies Daniel Jones and Kyler Murray, Jared Goff (the current cautionary tale for paying big money to non-elite QBs), and Philip Rivers who is also a FA and his current team likely doesn't want him back. Feel bad for the GOAT that it has to end on a pick-6. But if any team signs him this offseason, it's not because of his ability anymore. It's because they think he has some kind of magic that will rub off on the entire team and will them to the Superbowl. 42 year old QBs don't have a resurgence once the regression has already started. He went from best QB in the league level in 2017, to good in 2018, to below average 2019. There's no reversing that trend. If Brady does an honest assessment of himself, he'll see that he doesn't need more help. He needs to hang them up.

Tannehil signed for 1 year 2M. If that's the contract Mariota takes, I'd be down. Edit-nevermind it was a trade where they restructured the last year of his deal, not a FA signing. 1/2 was the Titan's cap hit though. Any targets like that? Edit 2- Cam Newton on a renegotiated final year that's incentive based with a few mil guarantees? Would Carolina do it for one of the 5th's and a 6/7 swap? If Carolina does that trade is because their medical staff thinks Cam's body is completely shot. They got nothing else. Sent from my moto e5 supra using Tapatalk

I think I'm starting to get back into the Marcus Mariota idea. The Titans put out the obvious blueprint. Second overall pick QB who's missed time here and there, had decent seasons, suffered regression, never quite put it together and going into his contract year (4th year in Mitch's case, 5th in Mariota's). They added competition to him with a QB in a similar situation of underachieving. That's where I don't like Dalton. He doesn't have a high pedigree. He's a serviceable talent who has played serviceably for the most part. There is no upside with him that he could tap into with new coaching. The best you can hope for is serviceable play from someone who hasn't performed at league average in now 3 seasons. Mariota still has some untapped potential. He (along w/ Winston) is the youngest FA QB in this class, so you could still get long-term stability with him. I didn't think Tannehill had much upside at 31, but to be fair, he was a late bloomer who was a college WR for a couple years before moving back to QB and missed a full year right after his best NFL season. Of course, Tannehill's success kinda takes some of the argument for Mariota away because if the theory is he just needs a change of scenery.....Tannehill just changed to the same scenery and put up MVP level numbers. But at this point, I think I'd rather gamble with the chance he needs a change of scenery over Dalton or even Keenum just reaching basic competency levels....even though the Bears would kill for basic competency at this point.

So, there rumors going around that the Bears are not going to hire an offensive coordinator. There has been very little buzz about a new OC. The Bears hired an OL coach. Matt Nagy calls the plays anyway, and Pace mentioned in the press conference that he has no issues with Nagy's playcalling. The rumor appears to be started by a Bears blogger who "knows a couple people". Take that as you will, but this guy also briefly brought up Castillo's name out of nowhere hours before he was named the OL coach. There's also Bill Zimmerman of "If Alex Smith can play in 2020, it will be for the Bears" fame. He tweeted today that he predicts Dalton to the Bears, and Keenum to go wherever Shurmur goes. When asked what about if Shurmur becomes Bears OC, he said Shurmur would want control over assistants hence he doesn't believe that's a go for the Bears job. There is precedence for not having an OC. Kyle Shanahan and Sean McVay don't have OCs. Both have similar setups with an OL coach who is the run game coordinator and QB coach who is pass game coordinator. Of course, those guys are really good....so do whatever you want with that info.

Advanced metrics still loved Jackson this year. He had great coverage grades, teams avoided him a lot, and he played closer to the line of scrimmage this year because Haha has a similar skillset. Jackson also statistically improved his tackling this year. Well worth the money.

Disappointing finish for IU blowing a 13 point lead under 5 minutes left. Missed PAT the difference. Still a very good showing and 16 of 22 starters back, and almost all the depth. Sent from my moto e5 supra using Tapatalk

IU/Tennessee in a defensive battle as expected. Hoosiers back 7 playing really well. Vols front 4 being unblockable.

He's a safe pick for Nagy given their history. I would have preferred Callahan (Wash) or Matsko (Car). Yeah safe but competent works in this case. I too wouldve preferred those other 2.

Castillo is solid. He came from Michigan (where he coached earlier today as the OL coach), but has a ton of NFL experience, with the Eagles under Reid. He coached 6 top 10 rushing teams, and actually was Eagles defensive coordinator at one point. He knows football in general.

Could do worse. Could do better. No one seems more logical that Shurmur if not for the fact that it doesn't seem like Nagy is going to give up play calling. I wonder how much Nagy will prioritize the West coast/zone blocking schemes. Could he go college again? Chasing the RPO concepts Helfrich was supposedly hired to incorporate? Nah. I think the whole purpose of firing the run game coordinators (and not the passing game guys) is to find experience running an NFL run game.

So, yeah there's playoff games this week. #TITANUP. But there's also potential for me to win a lot of money. I entered a playoff fantasy league, where it has typical 1/2 point PPR fantasy rules. Teams consist of: 2 QB 3 RB 3 WR 2 TE 1 K 1 DEF But you only get 1 player from each of the 12 playoff teams. And once that player's team is eliminated, you get no more points from them. So, I'm thinking...... I want at least 1 QB, WR and RB who is playing this weekend, preferably on a not 1-and-done team. I want 1 QB, RB, WR who is on a bye next week because of the likelihood of them playing in the Superbowl. K and Def make the most sense for teams that are going to be 1-and-done. I think Vikings and Titans are most likely to lose this week, but I can't really think of anyone on the Buffalo offense I'd want to pick. I think Philly could pull it out vs Seattle, but I also don't really want anyone on the Eagles O, except maybe the rookie RB? My locks are: QB- Jackson (BAL), QB2 either Wilson or Mahomes RB- Jones (GB), WR- Thomas (NO), TE- Kittle (SF), TE2 Kelce if Wilson at QB

(5) Buffalo Bills @ (4) Houston Texans Saturday, January 4 4:35 PM EST (6) Tennessee Titans @ (3) New England Patriots Saturday, January 4 8:15 PM EST (6) Minnesota Vikings @ (3) New Orleans Saints Sunday, January 5 1:05 PM EST (5) Seattle Seahawks @ (4) Philadelphia Eagles Sunday, January 5 4:40 PM EST