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I was worried that was going to be your take. I would have said going into the off season that the Bears biggest holes were in the trenches, even more than WR. So far we haven't done a ton to change that. While they could focus heavily on this in the draft, I don't want the Bears to be in a position where they have to take OL and DL instead of BPA. I watched a YouTube video from a guy I follow on Twitter (didn't know he had his own YouTube channel until today). He's a Titans fan and he made me feel much better about Nate Davis. He thinks he's still an ascending player and he did say he became a really good pass blocker since midway thru 2021 and had his best PFF pass blocking grade this year, before getting injured late in the season. So, I could make that a solid B with potential to be a B+

So, I'm kind of indifferent on the moves so far. TJ Edwards is a fine signing. And hella cheap. I would have paid double digit million AAV for him and they got him for 6.5M per. He's a solid Mike LB who takes on blockers really well. If you remember, I called this signing in my mock offseason! Good, not great, player who has worked his ass off to get better every year. I'll give this signing an A. Nate Davis is an OK signing. 3 years, 30M is a little high for him. He's a better run blocker than pass blocker, but IIRC he has gotten better pass blocking every year. He hasn't really played in zone blocking scheme and Tennessee was a big power/gap team. Didn't see him play much this year since my nephew was no longer there. But he's always been solid. Can't complain about solid OL help, but I can't help but think this contract would have been better for Isaac Seumalo or Dalton Risner, both of whom I like better. Davis is younger than both though, has only played RG. I give this signing a C Tremaine Edmunds is interesting. I'm going to guess he's going to be the Will LB. He's fun. He's big, fast and makes flashy plays. He hasn't quite lived up to his draft billing, and I honestly preferred him to drafting Roquan 5 years ago. IDK how he's still only 24 for a couple months with 5 years experience. He could shine in this defense. That being said, I feel like this moves shows a bit of panic that they had to spend big for cash floor purposes and am going to guess this means no big money players at OT or DT are being signed, which is where I would have rather spent 19M AAV. I give this signing a C+ Obviously, I don't know if players are even interested or if the Bears had offers out there. I don't hate that they didn't spend those contracts on Jawaan Taylor or Mike McGlinchey, but could have justified if they grossly overpaid like those other teams did. It sounds like Dre'Mont Jones is going to get 20M AAV as well between the Browns and Broncos. Maybe the Bears can get in on that as well. The Bears are better than they were when we all woke up this morning, but the needle isn't moved enough yet, IMO. A long way to go, so no big deal, but the trenches are still very bad.

I've been wondering that myself. I always thought DJ Moore was more of a slot guy, but he's played more outside than both Claypool and Mooney (percentage wise) in their careers. So, the Bears still kinda need a slot guy, unless they throw Mooney there the majority of the time. It may be a wait and see approach to see who they can get in the draft, but I don't imagine Claypool has more value than a 4th and 6th or something like that. Maybe a 3rd if a team gets desperate from missing out in both free agency and the draft. IDK who else was interested last year besides the Packers, and I don't think that trade's gonna happen. Ironically enough, the team that may have the biggest need and in the worst position in FA and the draft to add a WR is now Carolina.

It could easily be bad enough - depending on who they draft at 1. Their QB is either going to be a rookie with no weapons (seriously, their best WR is probably Laviska Shenault, who iirc they were offering around, and their starting RB right now is probably Chuba Hubbard. OL is decent and D should be solid, but they will likely struggle to score points. Laviska was a Jag, who had him on the market. The Panthers traded for him last year. But yeah, he's basically his game is what we can hope Velus Jones becomes. I'd say Terrace Marshall is their best WR. He didn't have great numbers, but did get 17.4 yards per catch. He was Part 3 of that LSU team with Jefferson and Chase, so I think they have high hopes for him, but he hasn't quite put it together yet. He was probably most hurt by the QB issues there. Their defense though, while I can see the potential for it to be solid, they were below average in all phases last year. They were also wildly inconsistent. Gave up 3 points to Tampa, but they followed with 37 allowed to Atlanta. Two weeks later only allowed 15 the 2nd time vs Atlanta. Then they gave up 30 to the same Tampa team they shut down earlier.

I hate the way Pickett takes the air out of the ball. So much dribbling, backing people down from half court. Yet IU has seen it for 2 games and can't do anything about it so I wouldn't stop either. In the game last night, I kinda got depressed watching. A lot of talk about Hood-Schifino leaving for the NBA after this season by the announcers. I guess it never really crossed my mind that he could leave this year. LOL. He's obviously an NBA talent, but I figured he would come back with his buddy Reneau and go back to his natural 2-guard role (though he is a combo guard). Work on increasing his range a bit more out to the 3pt line. He's projected in the late 20s or early 30s, so I just assumed he'd come back and try to become a lottery pick. For a minute, I forgot what thread I was in. Thought you were saying the steelers let air out of the ball so that Pickett can hold it with one hand. It's rare that I venture outside of NFL talk, so I get it. LOL

I hate the way Pickett takes the air out of the ball. So much dribbling, backing people down from half court. Yet IU has seen it for 2 games and can't do anything about it so I wouldn't stop either. In the game last night, I kinda got depressed watching. A lot of talk about Hood-Schifino leaving for the NBA after this season by the announcers. I guess it never really crossed my mind that he could leave this year. LOL. He's obviously an NBA talent, but I figured he would come back with his buddy Reneau and go back to his natural 2-guard role (though he is a combo guard). Work on increasing his range a bit more out to the 3pt line. He's projected in the late 20s or early 30s, so I just assumed he'd come back and try to become a lottery pick.

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.