raw

I will be royally pissed if we do not sign Payne if he's available. Clear need, young proven stud, lots of space. Guys like him don't hit the market more often than not. Can't afford to punt two offseasons in a row on some absurd value principle. It's not absurd at all. And there will be 30 other teams trying to sign him. It makes no sense to be pissed off if Payne decides to pick Miami over playing over Chicago or something. Just setting yourself up to be disappointed. But yeah, I explained the value thing. I don't think you are clear on what I am saying. Value does not mean, cheap.

I'm the one who said I think they would look for value guys. But yeah, they have to look into Payne if he's on the market. They have the money and the need. My question is if they want to spend what it takes to get a guy like Payne. There will likely be a bidding war and he'll likely reset the non-Donald DT market. If the demand to pay Payne that much isn't there, then I'd expect Poles to pounce. But I don't expect him to reset the market on anyone.

Someone summed it up in the Reddit comments. Fields loves to throw the ball deep and has the exact opposite roster he needs around him to play to his strengths. LOL. The OL can't hold up long enough for him to get the ball down the field effectively. He also threw the fewest number of tight window throws according to Next Gen Stats. So that basically means either guys aren't separating enough or he isn't anticipating well enough....which both are true. The tight window stuff, I don't really care about. If he doesn't want to throw into tight windows too much, then get guys that are better at getting open. But they really gotta protect him going forward. Heavy resources need to go into the OL this offseason. You can survive with Mooney, Claypool and whatever, but you gotta be able to execute a simple 3-5 step drop back passes. yea, their inability to do that gives me hope that Claypool/Mooney/whoever/Kmet can be a good corps in time. its so hard to tell when the dt is 2' from Fields face in less then 2 seconds Yep. Trevor Lawrence threw for 4100+ with Christian Kirk, Zay Jones, Evan Engram and Marvin Jones as his targets. Until this year, Kirk had never had a season as good as Mooney's 2021, Zay never had a season as good as Claypool's first 2 in Pittsburgh, and most of Engram's career was similar to Kmet's 2021. Jones was just a role player for them, which it remains to be seen if the Bears can even duplicate that production from WR3 by adding someone. But I think if you build up the OL to the point where you can allow Fields to throw at even a normal volume, then the Bears can come close to replicating those numbers.

Someone summed it up in the Reddit comments. Fields loves to throw the ball deep and has the exact opposite roster he needs around him to play to his strengths. LOL. The OL can't hold up long enough for him to get the ball down the field effectively. He also threw the fewest number of tight window throws according to Next Gen Stats. So that basically means either guys aren't separating enough or he isn't anticipating well enough....which both are true. The tight window stuff, I don't really care about. If he doesn't want to throw into tight windows too much, then get guys that are better at getting open. But they really gotta protect him going forward. Heavy resources need to go into the OL this offseason. You can survive with Mooney, Claypool and whatever, but you gotta be able to execute a simple 3-5 step drop back passes.

The Sulley tweets and responses here have me dying. LOL. Also, horsefeathers Gabriel. He blocked me years ago for pointing out something he said was wrong. He was on one of his "I did this professionally kick" and said something and I "Well actually'd" him and he blocked me immediately.

Tom Brady retiring again. Seems to be final this time.

Honestly, not familiar with him at all. I'll check him out. Been an interesting journey.... LSU Last Chance U Mizzou Nichols St. UIW Those are the colleges he attended.... 24 yo. Mobile, accuracy is plus, avg. arm strength... Walter Payton athlete of the year. Broke FCS record for TDs. Very good showing at predraft events.. Oh OK. I have actually heard of him. I remember him at LSU and I saw him at Incarnate Word and Nichols the last couple years in the FCS. Watched his playoff game vs. No Dakota State this year.

So, yeah I agree with you. I've argued so many times this season/offseason that Siemien is fine as a backup next year. And I don't like the thought of intentionally going after a guy because he's mobile like Fields. Just get the best guy you can find. That being said, yeah I'd certainly draft a QB this year, probably in the 7th. No 6th and 1 of the 5ths is super early, so you're looking at either the Ravens' 5th or a trade down to get one before the 7th. With Brock Purdy's success, I imagine experienced starters will be all the rage. So, it's really hard to figure out where some of these guys might get picked. But the Day 3 guys SHOULD be guys like: Stetson Bennett, Georgia- who is about 5'11", but everyone knows about him Aidan O'Connell, Purdue- who had an article written this week that he could be the best QB in the draft (LOL). But a 2-year starter Max Duggan, TCU- probably goes higher than I'd like to take him Jake Haener, Fresno St- started 28 games in a pass heavy offense Malik Cunningham, Louisville- super athletic, super skinny but can run. Myles Brennan, LSU- he sucks, but he's like the only one with any kind of size here Tanner Morgan, Minnesota- if I had to say anyone is similar to Purdy, this would be him Clayton Tune, Houston- decent size, decent athlete, may go higher than I'd like too Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA- similar to Cunningham in size & skillset, but probably a little better passer Tyson Bagent, Shepherd- IDK anything about him but apparently people love his upside and he's at the Senior Bowl on Getsy's team Despite his size, I love Lindsey Scott Jr. Honestly, not familiar with him at all. I'll check him out.

Cap was estimated at 225M and that was figured into projections. 224.8M is pretty much right on target.

So, yeah I agree with you. I've argued so many times this season/offseason that Siemien is fine as a backup next year. And I don't like the thought of intentionally going after a guy because he's mobile like Fields. Just get the best guy you can find. That being said, yeah I'd certainly draft a QB this year, probably in the 7th. No 6th and 1 of the 5ths is super early, so you're looking at either the Ravens' 5th or a trade down to get one before the 7th. With Brock Purdy's success, I imagine experienced starters will be all the rage. So, it's really hard to figure out where some of these guys might get picked. But the Day 3 guys SHOULD be guys like: Stetson Bennett, Georgia- who is about 5'11", but everyone knows about him Aidan O'Connell, Purdue- who had an article written this week that he could be the best QB in the draft (LOL). But a 2-year starter Max Duggan, TCU- probably goes higher than I'd like to take him Jake Haener, Fresno St- started 28 games in a pass heavy offense Malik Cunningham, Louisville- super athletic, super skinny but can run. Myles Brennan, LSU- he sucks, but he's like the only one with any kind of size here Tanner Morgan, Minnesota- if I had to say anyone is similar to Purdy, this would be him Clayton Tune, Houston- decent size, decent athlete, may go higher than I'd like too Dorian Thompson-Robinson, UCLA- similar to Cunningham in size & skillset, but probably a little better passer Tyson Bagent, Shepherd- IDK anything about him but apparently people love his upside and he's at the Senior Bowl on Getsy's team

I bet on Hurts right after that season. He stayed at Bama and sat the bench behind Tua, despite being 27-2 as a starter and leading his team to consecutive national championship games (won 1, which obviously Tua took over). He then went to Oklahoma and put up a Heisman level season. He was just a guy I never counted out as an NFL QB. I thought he might be a 6th round pick and mostly a career backup who becomes a head coach after his playing career, but I knew he would have success on some level in the NFL. From all accounts, just a really good dude, who I wished all the success in this league.

I know officiating in the Chiefs/Bengals game is going to be talked about for a while, but lets not forget that the officiating was probably worse in the Niners/Eagles game. It didn't matter as much because the Niners didn't have a QB for half the game, but the Niners got screwed over and over again with questionable calls. In the Chiefs/Bengals game, the officiating was still bad, but it's probably going to be overblown. There were not holds on the Mahomes scramble. That was clearly a late hit out of bounds. There WERE blocks in the back on the punt return to set it all up though. The 3rd down thing was an absolute mess (and the subsequent defensive holding call), but there was sky cam of the official trying to stop the play. The Chiefs were the better team yesterday, IMO. If Mahomes doesn't have a ball just slip out of his hands, the Chiefs were probably going up 2 scores to start the 4th quarter. I think it would've been basically over then.

Yeah, I was noticing the changes there. They can get to 110M by cutting Whitehair (June 1), Justin Jones and Muhammad. Fwiw, I would cut Jackson too. I wouldn't, but I understand. He will be overpaid in 2023, but the Bears need to spend the money, so they might as well keep a still solid player. 2023 would be his last year as a Bear, unless they extend him, which doesn't really make sense at his age. But I think it'd be fine to keep him for this year. He's still productive, a leader, and took to the new defense with more turnovers and fewer missed tackles than in recent years.

Yeah, I was noticing the changes there. They can get to 110M by cutting Whitehair (June 1), Justin Jones and Muhammad.

Nathaniel Hackett, hired as Jets OC. Granted, he did call plays years ago before Green Bay, but famously was fired in less than a season with a potential HOF QB on his team. Seems like a bad hire, but I guess they could be chasing Aaron Rodgers just like Denver did? LOL. Meanwhile, Byron Leftwich, who actually won a Superbowl as an OC is without a job.

More like the Raid-ed, am I right? Good haul, but a terrible mock pick of a player not even ranked in the top 25 of any reputable draft board right now (hell, CBS has him ranked 43), and at an increasingly less important position. Take the best available line prospect, or if for some reason there's a run on OL/DL in the top 5, take the best available CB in a bind (note, the likeliness of this happening is about none and there's a good chance one of Anderson/Carter/Murphy will be there). So, I really like the player picked. I would probably have him top 15. I think Simpson is a the prototype Eberflus LB. He's long, versatile and fast. I'd love to have him as the long-term at Will LB in this defense. And this is not a comp, but I think he has some ability to rush off the edge too ala Micah Parsons. That being said, there's no way you can trade Roquan, basically laugh at the previous regime for taking an off ball LB top 10 (as Flus did) and then take a LB top 10. In general, I hate the logic involved in taking the same position as a player you got rid of. Would have been like using the pick from the Mack trade on a DE. You just filled a hole you self created and went from the best player on the team to an unproven prospect. Never made sense to me. That's what happened when they draft Kevin White after getting rid of Brandon Marshall, and we see how that worked out. If they were able to get a late 1st (after 20) and then took Simpson, I'd be pretty happy with that, provided they drafted an offensive player earlier. He's a good looking prospect.

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.

I don't remember those Raiders and Chiefs game AT ALL. I remember the Broncos game vividly. And that was the point I gave up all hope for making the playoffs. The Seattle was memorable, even though I didn't see it at all due to a dance recital for my daughter. The game featured a 14-7 Bears lead at halftime and multiple 2nd half pick 6's of Caleb Hanie. Oh and most famously, that was the game Johnny Knox's career ended with the gruesome spine injury.

I really like Harry, but there's a reason I don't want him back. The Bears are already bringing back Mooney, Claypool, Velus Jones and St. Brown. Harry would be the 5th WR on a roster that usually carries 6. I know they carried 7 a lot of this year, and they could cut Jones, St. Brown and/or Harry for minimal dead cap, but I'd hate for them to get rid of Jones so quickly after flashes in the 2nd half, and obviously cheap rookie deal and great speed. St. Brown they obviously value by locking him up before the season ended. So, that limits the number of spots you have to truly upgrade the WR position. I just don't see much of a path to improvement if you bring back 5 of the 7 players on a bottom 5 WR depth chart in the league. The FA market is soft on WR's this year, right? If so bring back Harry and draft one. Spend more picks/cap money on protecting Fields up front and let's see what he can do with this group. Then maybe we can make a bigger splash at WR next offseason. Just spitballing here off the top of my head. That's a good point. The FA class is really bad. I'd personally rather see if any of those FAs take a 1-year deal than to give Harry a spot. Though, doing both is feasible. Basically, I'm thinking a guy better than Pringle, since they have money this year, but it may not be anyone to spend on, especially for 1 year. Not really interested in a multi-year deal on a WR with potentially Mooney and Claypool to be signed.

I really like Harry, but there's a reason I don't want him back. The Bears are already bringing back Mooney, Claypool, Velus Jones and St. Brown. Harry would be the 5th WR on a roster that usually carries 6. I know they carried 7 a lot of this year, and they could cut Jones, St. Brown and/or Harry for minimal dead cap, but I'd hate for them to get rid of Jones so quickly after flashes in the 2nd half, and obviously cheap rookie deal and great speed. St. Brown they obviously value by locking him up before the season ended. So, that limits the number of spots you have to truly upgrade the WR position. I just don't see much of a path to improvement if you bring back 5 of the 7 players on a bottom 5 WR depth chart in the league.

Can't do without: NONE Might as well bring back: Blackwell (ERFA deal is like 750K) Evans (camp invite, possibly doesn't make the team) Houston-Carson (can't help but love the guy, does a bit of everything) I'd take back, but could be upgraded easily: Scales Wesco Eiselen (probably should add enough to the OL that he goes away) Watts (probably should add enough to the DL that he goes away) Can Leave: Literally everyone else

I don't know if there's any non-QB in any draft ever worth NOT trading back for. Obviously, if you're in a situation like the Jags were last year where they had a QB and there were no top 20 QBs, then you have to take the pick. But if you have a QB, and there are QBs at the top of the draft, and there are teams that need a QB, you trade it 100x out of 100.

I'm guessing neither. He'll be good to go in like 3 months, and should have no long-term issues. The Cowboys signed Gallup for 5/57M last offseason and he actually had a torn ACL. While that's maybe a slight discount, they SHOULD cut Elliot and re-sign Pollard for whatever it takes. Zeke has a 16M cap hit next year and they save 11M if they cut him. Damn that seems like a no brainer. Zeke just hasn't been the same back the last couple of years even with a reduced workload to help with wear and tear. Wouldn't go near him. I also see a lot of people on twitter suggesting making a run at Barkley and I kind of feel the same way. A little different situation because he was still productive on a per carry basis but the Giants really throttled back his workload the second half of the season as his production started to decline rapidly. Don't know if you can trust him to be a three down back, and I'm sure he'll want to get paid like one. I think the issue with Saquon was the big jump in usage. Due to his injuries, he hadn't been used that much since his rookie year. He had 352 touches this year and only like 230 in the previous 2 years combined. And almost 100 more touches than he had in any of the previous 3 seasons. He just got worn out. I think he'd be more capable of handling a similar workload in 2023, but I understand the hesitation to sign him to big money. I wouldn't turn him down by any means, but I'd almost certainly prefer a speedier back who's a better natural receiver.

I'm guessing neither. He'll be good to go in like 3 months, and should have no long-term issues. The Cowboys signed Gallup for 5/57M last offseason and he actually had a torn ACL. While that's maybe a slight discount, they SHOULD cut Elliot and re-sign Pollard for whatever it takes. Zeke has a 16M cap hit next year and they save 11M if they cut him.

uhh isn't the top of this draft supposed to be really heavy on defensive talent My impression is there is a lot of quality depth at the top of the draft on the DL, with Anderson and Carter leading the way, but I'm not as sure how Anderson and Carter stack up compared to recent guys like Bosa and Chase Young. WrigleyField22 mentioned neither of them stack up to Myles Garrett, and I think that's accurate, although you can make a really good argument Garrett's the best DL prospect to come out in the last decade. There are some concerns with Anderson's size and speed, which might limit his usefulness when he's not rushing the passer, and Carter has some questions about his technique and health. The Combine will help tell the tale, and I think the Bears' D would improve measurably with either, but I don't think the Bears *have* to walk away from this draft with either guy. Garrett, Young, and the Nick Bosa are definitely better prospects than any edge in this draft. But Anderson is better than either of the first 2 picks last year (Walker, Hutchinson) IMO. Myles Murphy is a Travon Walker clone and he's DE2 or DE3. This is a really good edge draft, with a lot of players with 8+ sack potential, IMO. Anderson isn't quite generational, but he's pretty good. And I think this draft is about 8-9 deep in Round 1 or 2 guys that can be good pro players early in their careers.