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Jones, I hope that is the case. Brown is interesting. Everything Poles and Flus have said is they want fast, big, and athletic players for their team, and Brown is probably the least athletic player in the NFL. He's certainly still a very good player, but to pay him top of his position pay and then put him in a scheme that wants their OL to move get to the outside or the 2nd level, seems like a change in everything they've told us.

Yeah I think if Tyree Wilson is gone by 9 (more likely than not, but not definite?) this is the way I'd go. Let's make the offense around Justin just absolutely absurd. I love Bijan. I think he's a top 3 non QB in this draft. He'll be the BPA from like 6 on. That being said, Khalil Herbert is really good. Better than a lot of people realize. As Bears fans, we focus on what he can't do. But what he can do is run the ball in the outside zone. We all agree Montgomery isn't a bad player, but Herbert averaged 1.5 yards MORE per carry than him behind the same line, in the same scheme. Herbert is also one of the most efficient RBs in the league. He spends among the least amount of time actually in the backfield, reads and hits the hole fast, and he gets yards after contact (Monty better here). So I think it would be a bit of a waste demoting Herbert to a clear #2 RB again. I think the best use of resources would be to find a complement to him that can pass block and catch the ball and give Herbert 200 carries for the first time in his career. There's tons of guys in this draft that would be good complements, and if they want to go with a dynamic RB, I'd rather wait until the 2nd to see if Jahmyr Gibbs is on the board.

Just taking those rankings into account, am I crazy to like Jones? Well rounded and young. How much should we buy into McGary's career year as something he should carry forward? Yeah, I'm iffy on if McGary can carry that forward. He's not a young guy coming into his prime (28). He was not a raw talent from a small school coming out of the draft who should have taken a while to get his footing. He played at Power 5 Washington and started 47 collegiate games. His career year came in a contract year, which obviously happens a bit. But more concerning is that the Falcons did probably more to help their passing game than the Bears did this year. I watched every Falcons game from Week 3 on, since my nephew plays there, and they ran far more RPOs than the Bears, along with having a ton of moving pockets with Mariota. They also help TEs in to pass block a bunch, which is why Kyle Pitts didn't have great numbers when he was healthy. And they had the 2nd fewest passing attempts in the league to the Bears. Not that the Bears are all of a sudden going to open it up and throw the ball 45 times a game, but I have very big concerns McGary can hold up if they did.

So, I think I kind of like Stroud better than Young. I think he needs a couple years, but also needs good blocking and weapons. But I also believe he's more versatile and is a guy you don't have to tailor your scheme around to maximize his strengths. I do like Young a lot as well and think he's going to be the better QB in the short term. But I think you do have to tailor to his strengths (and create lanes for him to throw w/ lack of height), but you have the right guy to do it in Reich. But I'd also feel much better if you guys take Stroud. Stroud will be compared to Fields for obvious reasons, but we've seen Fields come from the same school, same offense and struggle early in his career with a mediocre then very bad OL and without enough receiving weapons. While I think the Panthers OL is solid enough, without Moore their receiving weapons are 2022 Bears level on paper. I feel like Stroud would struggle with their weapons more than Young and a 2024 1st round pick that I thought for sure would be in the 20s a couple days ago, I would feel like could potentially be in the top 12 with giving up Moore and the Saints now having Carr.

This is good. I was kind of iffy on his average separation numbers. And a couple sites I found had him with a mediocre win rate vs man coverage but had him being elite vs zone coverage. I think Moore is a #1 WR, but honestly, he's kind of a lower end one at this point. But to be fair, so were Diggs and AJ Brown before their trades. I know their QBs weren't studs when they got to their new teams, but stability and talent level of the QBs also allowed them to take the next step from 1100 yard WRs to 1400 yard guys. It remains to be seen if Moore can take that next step that Amari Cooper (on that list above) has never been able to take. He's definitely young enough to do so, it's now about building chemistry with Justin Fields.

Honestly, doesn't really matter who they draft with the picks. They got 4 top 64 picks and DJ Moore. That's 5 starters for essentially just Will Anderson. Even if a couple of those picks don't pan out, the Bears got 3 extra chances to find franchise building blocks. If only 50% of their first 2 round picks (counting the 64th this year because it's typically the last pick of the 2nd and makes it an even number) work out from 2023-25, then they'd still have 5 good players added over the next 2 years.

Moore makes this team extremely versatile. He can do a little of everything. The interesting thing is he's not much of a slot guy. He's never played more than like 15-18% of his snaps in the slot. He's also not a great separator vs man coverage like you would think. Decent separation, but not elite, tied for 87th in the league. Of course, he was tied with Stefon Diggs according to next gen stats. But he runs all kinds of routes. Looking at his route charts on next gen stats as well, he can be used anywhere. Not much of a straight go route on the outside guy, but you can run him on crossers, slants, slot fades, screens, endarounds, in-breakers, out-breakers. I think you'll see Moore, Claypool and Mooney all moved around the formation between X, Z and slot and make it tough for teams to matchup against them. Also interesting, the Bears value blocking from their WRs and Moore is pretty bad at blocking.

You would know better than I, but I assume having late career Cam Newton, Sam Darnold and Baker Mayfield didnt help his production too much. Baker and Moore didn't mix well at all apparently. With Mayfield, Moore caught 25 of 48 targets (52%) for 245 yards and 1 TD With Darnold and PJ Walker, he caught 38 of 70 targets (54%) for 643 yards and 6 TDs, while the catch percentage isn't much better, the depth of targets and YPC are a huge difference.

On the surface, DJ Moore is not AJ Brown or Stefon Diggs who helped 3rd year QBs take a huge leap. But a deeper dive shows: AJ Brown- 4.3 catches, 69.7 yards per game, two 1000 yard seasons in 3 years before trade Stefon Diggs- 5.2 catches, 66 yards per game, two 1000 yard seasons in 5 years before trade DJ Moore- 4.6 catches, 65 yards per game, three 1000 yards seasons in 5 years

The 3rd rounders for 49ers are all for minority candidates being hired I think. So get Alan Williams and Ian Cunningham HC/GM jobs (after next year). The other comp picks are basically just by losing more good players than signing good players in FA. Though details are a bit more complicated than that. There used to be a few easily exploited loopholes, but those are basically closed. Sooo draft well (such you can't keep all your second contract guys) and have diverse hiring/promotion practices. Bears were the last to exploit that loophole by cutting Mike Davis in 2019 before what used to be the deadline for him to be considered having a full season. Davis went on to be useful for another team and has had a couple decent years since.

Bears got a 7th round comp pick. Pick #255 overall, second to last pick.

2-years, but I'm sure it's not any real money or guarantees. Hopefully, they bring in someone that can at least challenge him for playing time. I like Hunter Luepke from North Dakota St and Brayden Willis from Oklahoma as late draft picks. Luepke is more of a true FB, who can run the ball in short yardage and catch swing passes. Willis is more of an H-back who can give you some reps at in-line TE if necessary. Not a runner, but a good pass catcher. Bears don't have enough weapons to have a non-ball productive FB.

Yeah, I read that too. Any guesses who the 7 are? Assuming none are QBs, I'd think: Will Anderson, Devon Witherspoon, Tyree Wilson, Myles Murphy, Christian Gonzalez, Peter Skoronski, and depending on how they feel about the recent off-field stuff, Jalen Carter. I know they met with Bijan Robinson too, and he's as good of a talent as there is in this draft, but IDK if they'd consider him #1 overall. Now this article treating it like it's 7 total, presumably counting QBs. Which I guess is how a team should do the grading. So maybe 7 is his floor https://sports.yahoo.com/nfl-insider-says-bears-comfort-205726794.html?src=rss 7 players doesn't necessarily equal 7 spots though. Even if the Bears do have QBs included in that 7, I'd doubt they'd have Will Levis and Anthony Richardson in that 7, so if they go top 5, then they could move back to 9. They basically have to feel safe enough that 1 of their 7 will be on the board wherever they do go, which could be 9, could be 11 depending on who goes that they don't want.

I saw a mock earlier today that had the Bears ending up with the following haul via 2 trades: Will Anderson (1.04), 2024 1st (HOU), 2024 1st (IND), 2023 2nd (HOU), 2023 2nd (IND), 2023 3rd (IND). Imagine getting 2 1st's, 2 2nd's and a 3rd while still getting the top player off the board. I'm trying not to let my mind drift too much here because its bound to lead to disappointment No way Houston gives up a future 1st. I don't think the Colts do either unless they get ahead of Houston.

Yeah, I read that too. Any guesses who the 7 are? Assuming none are QBs, I'd think: Will Anderson, Devon Witherspoon, Tyree Wilson, Myles Murphy, Christian Gonzalez, Peter Skoronski, and depending on how they feel about the recent off-field stuff, Jalen Carter. I know they met with Bijan Robinson too, and he's as good of a talent as there is in this draft, but IDK if they'd consider him #1 overall.

Thinking on it, I'd be okay with it. The future 1st would be great since there's no guarantee Carolina will be good next year, and those 2nd round picks would be great in my "trade back into the 1st" scenario. I want a ransom, but if that's what the market is, so be it. I'd take any trade with a 2 this year and 1 next year coming back, assuming there were no other better offers. I do think Carolina will be good, though obviously, no guarantee. Weak division, they'd be favorites with QB1 in this draft.

Yeah, I could see that. But I think he's a better route runner than Mooney and Mooney is a touch faster. Flowers is more of a slot guy and Mooney on the outside. But they are similar small, fast WRs.

I love JSN, but I agree. I don't love him top 10. 15-25 range would be more of his worth, but if they are absolutely in love with him and Fields wants him, I don't see many scenarios where he doesn't have a bunch of productive seasons in a good passing offense. Just gotta get that good passing part down. Also, I gotta caution against falling in love with any singular prospect. There are other WRs that can be productive as well. If they wind up with someone like Zay Flowers, I couldn't care less where JSN goes. LOL

Saw the deleted Quentin Johnston post. I think Johnston is scary. He's probably still my WR1, but he has some very prominent flaws. I think he's one of the few true X WRs in this draft, and the Bears do need an X long-term, but I think in the short-term, they need a guy that can separate in the slot. Mooney and Claypool can both play the slot, but neither is a good full-time option there. Mooney's not a "go over the middle type" and Claypool was traded from the Steelers with down numbers because he was forced into the slot full-time. Obviously, it would be short-sighted to dismiss Johnston because of Claypool who likely only has 1 more year in Chicago. But those flaws could be something the Bears aren't willing to deal with.

Van Ness would be a good pick with one of their 2nds, but at 9 I'm prolly taking the best available 3 tech, not an edge. Van Ness is trending toward the top 15 and the best available 3-tech at 9 will either Jalen Carter, who had an arrest warrant issued last week or IMO a guy like Calijah Kancey, who is not worthy of a top 15 pick. Interesting thing at 9 becomes is a CB the best player on the board? Or do the Bears reach for Smith-Njigba, who they supposedly love and Fields obviously would love?

Does that make you less interested in trading with them? Nope. I'll trade with anyone that pays the price.

The article mentions that one of the teams is farther back in the 1st round than you would expect. Not sure how I feel about that but I'm sure the haul would be massive if we moved down that far. That caught my eye too. Tampa or Baltimore? Panthers feel like the sweet spot though based on the majority of snippets that Poles said there and previously. - They're far enough back that you could reasonably see netting multiple Day 2 picks this year AND multiple future firsts - They're close enough to the top to still nab one of those "top 6-8 blue chippers" - Poles has referenced bringing back players in addition to picks, and Carolina has a few that would make a lot of sense - They appear to be sufficiently desperate to say horsefeathers it to cold surplus value calculations - They also make sense in a scenario where we trade back twice Panthers and Colts have always been the 2 that made the most sense. Colts because of their division rival being at 2 and also needing a QB. Panthers because they are otherwise ready to compete IMO. Both teams have tried the vet QB route. Colts famously with Rivers, Ryan and Wentz. Carolina with Darnold, Mayfield and one point brought back the corpse of Cam Newton. But Carolina wins that division if they get good QB play. Carr is in NOLA now, but meh. Tampa and Atlanta are in rebuild mode and need QBs. Carolina also has a pretty solid depth chart. Have a couple decent WRs. Have a solid OL. Good front 4 and back 4. Could use some LBs, a RB, maybe a TE and other depth, but they are a QB away for all intents and purposes.

I'd love to know the 4 teams. I guess Carolina, Las Vegas, Indi, and the Texans. Someone said Titans a while back, I could see it There's some Titans whispers with Jeffery Simmons taking Titans stuff off his social media. But that could also be him upset with negotiations on a long-term deal. They also recently said they are sticking with Tannehill, who was a big cut candidate with most, if not all, of his guarantees gone. But that could be posturing as well. If I had to guess the 4 teams, I'd say Vegas (rumors that they are out on Rodgers potentially), Carolina (huge need and motivation w/ no cap to get a vet QB), Washington (same need/motivation as Carolina w/ an otherwise loaded roster), and Indianapolis. The Colts would not give up 2 future 1s, but that part could be Poles letting it be known that he has options.

Said this a couple days ago. I going to assume those questions about Fields were from Bears people wanting them to dunk on anyone who had that opinion.

And lastly for Day 4. This is a fun OL class. Instead of going player to player, I'm going to put them into groups Athletic OTs- obviously, the Bears like athletic linemen who can move for the outside zone. So how these guys move speed-wise and agility-wise will be key for the Bears brass Broderick Jones Peter Skoronski- OT/OG? Paris Johnson Anton Harrison Carter Warren- injury issues at Pitt, so not sure what all he'll do Wanya Morris Asim Richards Blake Freeland Jaelyn Duncan Big Guys- I'm sure the Bears wouldn't shy away from size, but can any of these guys move well enough for the Bears to potentially take a chance on them Darnell Wright- OT Dawand Jones- OT O'Cyrus Torrence- OG Matthew Bergeron- OT/OG? McClendon Curtis- OT/OG? Steve Avila- OG/C? One of the most interesting, underrated story lines of the offseason is what the Bears do at C. Will they give Patrick another chance to play the position he was meant to play? Do they move on to a prospect to start? Prospect for development long-term? The intriguing C's in this draft John Michael-Schmitz Luke Wypler Joe Tippman- big C, so movement skills will be key Alex Forsyth Ricky Stromberg More importantly, I think there may be guys that the Bears look at potentially to MOVE to C Cody Mauch- college OT, played everywhere for Getsy in Senior bowl practices Steve Avila- played everywhere in college, has some C experience, again Getsy played him some there in Senior bowl practices Braeden Daniels- super athletic guy who played LT in college, sub 300lbs, move to interior likely and C possible RBs Jahmyr Gibbs- really intrigued by adding a pure speed and pass catching RB, may be more quick than fast though, which is fine Devon Achane- undersized, but a track guy, so he should be fast. Zach Charbonnet- not the biggest fan, Matt Forte gliding ability, but don't see that same ability to make guys miss, agility numbers? Tyjae Spears- can he add to big senior bowl to get into day 2? Small, fast, quick, great receiver Kenny McIntosh/Eric Gray- both good receiving backs with questionable long-speed, good speed/explosion numbers move them up the board Chase Brown/Sean Tucker- kind of similar, smaller, faster backs, how fast? how good are they at catching the ball Kendre Miller- 1-cut and go guy who fits the Bears scheme, IMO. How's his route running and hands? Speed? Roschon Johnson- one of my favorites, doesn't have the lateral ability but long speed may surprise Hunter Luepke- FB/RB hybrid, good runner, interested to see how good of a receiver and how athletic.