raw

Heart breaking. Yeah, at this point I want it over for him. Has to be in unbearable pain and discomfort.

I mean, yeah...that's the point of what I'm saying. He didn't go full rebuild because he potentially has a QB and didn't have the draft picks. And he didn't go all-in in free agency, because he potentially doesn't have a QB. There's a chance Fields is great. If he is, then 2022 will be a step in that direction then you commit to him. There's a chance Fields is not great. If he isn't, then 2022 will be a step in the wrong direction, but you aren't magnifying that by having committed to him by spending a ton on players to surround him with. Think of what the Dolphins will be if Tua isn't good this season. Think of what the Eagles will be if Hurts isn't good. Poles doesn't want to become that. This logic confuses me. "Let's be bad everywhere to make the QB prove he's worth supporting" makes no sense at all. I get not signing one final piece that you overpay for to get you to a Super Bowl in this situation, but having Swiss cheese for an O line and the sisters of the poor at WR just keeps you that much farther away from contending. We all know this doesn't happen in a one year switch flip so being completely barren of good players at important positions just seems really short sighted to me. You get as good as you can everywhere and if the QB doesn't work out, you go find a new one. I'm not saying that I agree with the logic. But I don't think it was necessarily Poles' intention to be bad everywhere. I think he set out to go bargain shopping (and at the time the Bears didn't really have a ton of cap and like 30 positions to fill), but the bargains were not coming the way he thought they would. He got Patrick, tried to get the RFA guy from Buffalo, and I'm sure was interested in other guys that went for much more money than he expected. I think that 1 really good OL would make a huge difference on how I feel about the OL. One guy at RG that you can play and not have to worry about if he's going to give you league average play would be nice. And one really good one is obviously a building block that can be around by the time the next QB is ready to go, even if Fields isn't him. As for WR, I'm fine with that group. Obviously, it's not a good group, but it doesn't make much sense to me to have paid or traded for a big named, big money WR. I'd rather have Pringle at his cost than any other WR that changed teams at his cost (money and picks included for some). I also feel like fans would feel much better if they drafted WR in the 2nd instead of the 3rd, but at that point you're still talking about prospects and biases toward predetermined preferences plays a part here. The Bears clearly identified Jones as more of a fit than guys like Pickens, for an offense we all haven't even seen yet to determine who would be the better pick.

The Bears dont have any of this. They have cap space, but instated of committing one way or the other Poles has chose the center lane of blah I mean, yeah...that's the point of what I'm saying. He didn't go full rebuild because he potentially has a QB and didn't have the draft picks. And he didn't go all-in in free agency, because he potentially doesn't have a QB. There's a chance Fields is great. If he is, then 2022 will be a step in that direction then you commit to him. There's a chance Fields is not great. If he isn't, then 2022 will be a step in the wrong direction, but you aren't magnifying that by having committed to him by spending a ton on players to surround him with. Think of what the Dolphins will be if Tua isn't good this season. Think of what the Eagles will be if Hurts isn't good. Poles doesn't want to become that.

It takes 2 to tango though. The "Jared Goff situation" is moreso having a QB carried by his offensive playcalling, yet too limited to get you over the top. Yeah, it worked out for the Rams. But usually, having the highest paid DT, CB, high paid WRs and OL play while having a QB that can't get you over the top is bad. And they gave up 2 1sts and ate millions of dollars to get rid of Goff. Like I said, it worked out because Stafford was available but it's not an ideal situation to build a team in. Sure, the Fields situation is probably a success if he goes to a Superbowl and is perennially in the playoffs with the Bears. But it would all fall apart with no ring if the Bears have a bunch of money tied into him and players dependent on him for team success and they don't reach the ultimate success. McVay probably is on the hot seat right now if they didn't trade for Stafford.

I've talked about this before as well. I don't think you can say that Poles isn't 100% committed to Fields and doing what it takes to help him improve. Like he had Fields watching tape of draftable WRs with him. He hired an offensive coaching staff from the top offensive coaching tree in the league right now. Fields has gotten almost 100% of the reps in minicamp and OTAs. I likened it to a marriage. I'm 100% committed to my wife, but if you locked me in a room for hours with a naked Halle Berry, I can't make any promises. Poles can be 100% committed to Fields without staking his career on him before he's even seen him on the field. Nobody is saying the Jags aren't 100% committed to Lawrence because they spent a ton of money on WRs and OL. But if Lawrence isn't good, they wasted a bunch of money overpaying players for the team to continue to be bad. Granted, I would have loved to see Poles spend something worthwhile on a lineman, but if Fields isn't good, then you definitely aren't stuck with a bunch of bad offensive contracts on an offense without a QB. I know people are looking at it as Fields isn't going to be able to succeed with a bad OL and without weapons. But we've seen guys have success in similar situations before. Josh Allen had a very similar "supporting cast" in year 2. Joe Burrow's OL led to a torn ACL and then he led them to a Superbowl despite them still not being that good. While those may be outliers, the common denominator is a good QB being extremely vital. With this cast, there's no Jared Goff situation here. You aren't going to be a few years deep in the situation and paying a guy a huge contract when you find out, "oh hey, this guy isn't that good, because this supporting cast and coaching staff is carrying the QB".

Kinda. It's more saying you aren't worse. Pro athletes are the tip of the bell curve, but it starts to widen out as you move down. There's a big difference between the 1st and 5th best tackle you can get, but there's probably no real difference between the 6th and 10th. Eh, if we're talking 6th to 10th we're still pretty far from replacement level too. More like 20th to 40th. The only real depth they added was day 3 rookies who rarely out produce replacement level vets. Yeah, I've had so many discussions this offseason that "Jason Peters was a shadow of his former self and James Daniels wasn't that good". Well, yeah, but now you got guys who you don't even know can play that well and all of them are about the same age or even older than Daniels was last year. Same with Robinson, sure he was bad. But Byron Pringle is coming off his only year producing more than Robinson and it's nowhere near most of ARob's career. Different does not equal better.

.........the GM and assistant GM were NFL O-linemen and know what to look for for OL prospects. Is the go-to reasoning for people being OK with a severe lack of talent added to an already bad OL.

To be fair, Dozier is ass, and I was hoping he wouldn't make this team at all, yet he was working with the 1s. Nothing really changed as far as I'm concerned, they need at least 1 lineman better than everyone they have competing for the starting RG spot.

The alternative is DeRozan, LaVine and Vooch combo we already know isn't good enough for 1 more year then chasing a big man again this time next year. Or if you go with Ayton then you're locked into him for 4+ years and not sure if he's good enough. I don't see blowing it up until you're out of DeRozan's deal after 23-24. Assuming you don't have to get rid of any of DeRozan, LaVine, Ball, Caruso, Williams, Ayo then I'd prefer the Gobert move. And hope you can add a couple shooters for vet minimum. Probably not good enough, but better than w/ Vooch and maybe you can get a Miami Heat like couple years where the defense is good enough to get you to the East finals or NBA finals with some injuries.

I like Eason and Williams a lot. But I kinda feel like if they go frontcourt, they need to go 6'10 or up. I don't see a path to a bunch of playing time with guys in the 6'4"- 6'8" range who aren't knockdown shooters with Ball, Williams, Caruso, DeRozan, Ayo and hopefully LaVine on the wing. Granted, it's not like a rookie necessarily needs to be a big part of the rotation right away and the Bulls do have health concerns with that group.....but I'm essentially looking to upgrade Coby White as a shooter and defender to take his spot in the rotation. A backup PF/small ball C would be a better fit IMO.

Good for him, go chase that ring! Tampa is a team that could definitely benefit from Hicks but also not be doomed when he gets injured as he tends to do. Hicks and Vita Vea in the middle. LMAO! The most athletic 700lbs of man could ever get. They also got William Gholston and drafted Logan Hall. At this point, I'm just hoping Hicks stays healthy to actually play in the Superbowl they almost certainly will get to.

Yeah, I apologize. I realize in trying to point out "this is why someone would think it's fake" I portrayed it as I think it could be fake and made it about me fitting in shoes I certainly could never fit in. I definitely didn't want to be "that guy". Basically the same as the people who are like, "well why didn't she go to the police?"

One thing I will say about these Roquan Smith allegations..... It's kind of fishy that the 2 accounts I know of that have said he did these things on tiktok were @monsterqueef_ and @flickmybean. I feel like if I was publicly going after someone for sexual assault/rape, I'd probably not do it from an @ name that could be used against my credibility. Then if that original account got deleted, I probably wouldn't then create a new account that is also sexually explicit. But if that is her and that is legit, it clearly doesn't excuse anything Roquan may have done to her nor should it affect her credibility.

So now apparently the story is it happened this year, in South Africa. Supposedly a rape kit was done as well. The woman keeps posting things on TikTok accounts that keep getting deleted. I've seen a couple screenshots, but now they aren't really available. FWIW, looks like Roquan has gone private on Twitter. And the accounts the woman keeps creating all seem to have sexually explicit names. The original was "monsterqueef_".

So apparently Roquan Smith may have raped a 14 or 15-year old girl from South Africa (in Cape Cod) like 4-5 years ago. Apparently, this woman (now 18) has posted some TikToks crying and talking about how she doesn't trust anybody and also pictures with him and text messages sent to him, under a couple different accounts. Bears Twitter is handling how you'd expect. And again, Sulley is the voice of reason in this whole thing.

1. Ochai Agbaji, Kansas (not sure how realistic he'll be when all is said and done. 2. Jalen Duren, Memphis 3. Kendall Brown, Baylor

Caruso missed literally half the season. It's a wonder that he even got a 1st team vote. That's all the props I need to show he's a great defensive player.

But none of them can shoot Johnson shot 38%. Though he's not a shooter, he can hit an open shot at time. Bates and Hood-Scifino have the ability to hit shots as well. CJ Gunn, who I haven't mentioned is an incoming freshman that projects as a shooter as well. None of them are really big time shooters, but part of the reason I wanted TJD to go is because I think they'd play more wide open and potentially get more shots from the outside to find guys that can make shots.

You're not wrong. Nevertheless, the gap between the haves and the have nots is about to greatly expand. Bama won’t be able to keep up and that’s why Saban is crying; his absurd competitive advantage is shrinking. Bama is like Duke basketball. Don't even have to recruit at this point. The name on the jersey does it all. If you get interest from Bama, you can turn that into going wherever you want to go. And now Saban has to offer more than just being a household name to these kids. And that money won't be there for all 90 of those 5-stars. Kids going to have to decide if they want to go where the money is (other colleges) or where the money will be (Bama pipeline to NFL).

So, Trayce Jackson-Davis is leaving the NBA draft and returning to IU. I kind of wanted him to go to turn over the program to the great recruiting class, but dare I say, IU is loaded for 2022-23? Bring back TJD, Thompson, and Xavier Johnson....top 3 players from this past year. Add a pair of top 30s. Malik Reneau likely off the bench now. Add Jordan Geronimo who has a ton of upside, and you have a very deep front court. And that's not counting Miller Kopp, who started at SF this year. Which, MEH. I'm fine if he doesn't see the floor. In the backcourt, they have Johnson at PG. And incoming freshman, Jalen Hood-Scifino, who has elite wing talent. Tamar Bates will need to step up as a shooter off the bench since Kopp didn't do well enough there and Trey Galloway should continue to slash and annoy me with his really short shorts. ESPN has them 15th in the way too early rankings (ahead of Gonzaga). Returning 4 starters from the top B1G defense, their top 3 scorers and adding at least 2 instant contributors. Should be a fun season in Bloomington. Now this thread can turn into your regularly scheduled Illinois basketball thread.

I know this would essentially be a straight roster change from Coby White to Thybulle, and the defensive upgrade would be phenomenal, but if LaVine is back I think you only need 1 more wing player. I'd prefer that player be a really good shooter over everything else. I do like Thybulle though and he has some potential to take his game up a level.

I was thinking about who Siemian had on offense, did not take the time to look nevertheless, I do not think its beyond the realm of possibilities that Fields will improve. At the very least this coaching staff will make a better attempt at putting him in a position to succeed, this alone should make a positive difference. I am assuming Fields does improve, but improving on his rookie year doesn't necessarily translate to more than a handful of wins this season. If he eclipses 3,000 yards with 60% completion percentage and throws as many TDs as INTs while fumbling only 10 times with this supporting cast he will have shown marked improvement from last year and this team will still suck. I don't think anyone is really expecting more than a handful of wins. But I do think you can see 3500 ish yards if he plays all 17. I'd hope for at least a 2:1 TD:INT ratio, 62-65% completions and 400-500 rushing. The ceiling with the offensive talent is probably no better than bottom 1/3 of the league. But I do think the defense has potential to be decent. Eberflus took a less talented group to a top 10 D in 2018 (his 1st season, taking over a D previously ranked in the 20s). The Bears are probably better than the 2018 Colts at DE and DB for sure, if the rookies live up to the hype quickly. The Colts had a rookie Darius Leonard, so the Bears LBs could certainly be better as well. This was 2 years before the Colts got Buckner, so their DTs weren't anything special either. I won't assume top 10 D right away, but no reason they shouldn't be among the top 1/2 of teams on D. Outside of Rodgers twice, Dak and Josh Allen the Bears play.... Cousins x 2 Goff x 2 Jimmy G or inexperienced Lance Davis Mills, Drew Lock, Daniel Jones, Wentz, Tua, Mac Jones, Wilson, Hurts, and Mariota. That's a very defense-friendly schedule. And I don't see any reason the Bears can't hang around in at least 10 of those games.

I see it as one of 2 things: 1) They don't believe in Fields and/or putting him in a position where if he's elite he'll show enough despite being hamstrung by resources or he'll prove to be a bust in which case they can justify dumping him and picking their own QB 2) They do believe in Fields and/or are natural on him and think that having a superior coaching staff/offensive gameplan and their handpicked scrap heap guys they added will make a giant difference. If its the second one, then either they are really smart and have proven they have a strong ability to identify coaching and player talent, or they suffer from the same 'smartest guy in the room' syndrome that has been the downfall of so many other executives and coaches throughout the NFL. I don't believe they are outright sabotaging him though necessarily. If Fields sucks so they trade him off and he becomes a star elsewhere, all the sudden Poles looks like a moron and his seat starts getting warm. You can count on one hand the number of 1st round QBs that fail on their original team and then become a star elsewhere. Brees...Favre...probably 1 or 2 I'm missing. Technically Favre was in the 2nd round but he was one of the first few picks of that round. You can probably count on one hand the number of 1st round draft pick QBs who've been abandoned by a new regime. I think there's a 3rd option in there. They have some level of faith in Fields but not enough to carry this team in 2022, which is what they'd need to contend this year. They aren't giving him weapons because if they did he'd be expected to use them? So they are going into 2022 with the hopes of being a run first, second and third team, maybe throwing 18 times a game just to mix things up. Load up on young depth on the offensive line, pound the ball, create an identity on offense while not actually scoring points, let the defense keep you in the game and maybe you win a couple unexpectedly. There are enough bad teams on this schedule that they can beat a few just with competence and turnovers, and then you load up in the 2023 draft with all the talent you can give Fields to open it up. If Fields stumbles in 2023, you draft your QB in 2024 and hope that guys shows enough in his 2nd year to net everybody a contract extension. Or if Fields survives this gauntlet you get that contract extension even sooner. Because by then you should have the surrounding cast to help a young QB. The other issue though is I don't see how this defense can be anywhere close to dominant enough to keep this team in games this year. I think there's plenty of faith in Fields. But Poles isn't willing to stake his career on his faith that Fields is the guy. If Poles had put all his eggs in on the "Fields is the man" basket and Fields isn't the man, then he's on the hot seat. If he had gone out and gotten involved in all these big WR trades and signed a couple linemen, that'd be a waste of money if Fields isn't the QB they expect him to be. I wanted Armstead once I saw how the OL market went, but if Fields isn't the guy, Armstead would have been too expensive for a team with no QB. He'd also be too old by the time they find a new QB. If they had traded for Amari Cooper or AJ Brown or Tyreke Hill or something, you'd be paying 20Mil+ for a WR with nobody to throw them the ball. And most of all, you'd create expectations. Expectations for the team, for Fields, and most of all for Poles. If you fail to meet expectations, the GM is on the hot seat. And if Fields fails with a ton of resources spent to help him, then the Poles would be looked at as the guy who didn't hire a coach to develop Fields. Nobody would care that Pace is the one that drafted a bust. The way Poles has played it, he's hedging his bets. Like, I believe my wife is forever faithful, but I wouldn't put her in a room with a naked Jason Momoa. He can believe Fields is great, but he shouldn't necessarily bet his future as a GM on a guy he didn't draft. This gives Poles and company 2022 to evaluate Fields, in person. If he is not the guy, then they probably have another similar offseason this time next year, because they are stuck with Fields for for at least 1 more after this one. But if he is the guy, now you have a full allotment of draft picks, potentially a lot of young pieces on defense (Smith, Johnson, Gordon, Gipson, Brisker all 26 or under), and a bunch of cap room in 2023. They are definitely tanking 2022 for the most part. But I don't think they will be as run heavy as you think. I think they will throw plenty. But they will definitely try to get the ball out of Fields' hands quicker and to playmakers. Rodgers has thrown the ball quicker and shorter in the last 2 seasons (under Getsy) than he ever had in his career. And the results were back-to-back MVPs. Obviously, Fields isn't putting up those level numbers, but I do think they will throw short a bunch. And it's something Fields needs to work on so he's not holding onto the ball as long as he's used to and not taking as many hits as he did last year. It allows you to take advantage of his deep ball prowess if the defense also has to respect the short game. And if executed properly, I think this team can perform much better than a tanking season would indicate.

I'd hate to move on without a solid backup plan because he MAY have recurring knee issues for the rest of his career. I mean, obviously the knee will affect his play somewhat, but I think he can still be very effective as an on-ball defender and a spot up 3 shooter. If he can't run the offense and get the team going on the break, it would make him a lesser player, but he'd still be pretty valuable without that ability. It wouldn't really be on the table for me to trade Lonzo. Worst case, you keep drafting true PGs and play him off the ball like a Desmond Bane type.

Part of that is that you have to be willing to shoot it from the outside once in a while if you want people to go for ball fakes so that you can drive past them. If you never shoot from the outside, it makes defending you easier. He does shoot, mid range, that I could live with it, maybe, it's he shoots too many three's, he's a career 29% 3-pt shooter so, its safe to say he's not very good from the beyond the arc. Nevertheless, he is amazing and fun to watch, heard Boston fans yelling - "..Giannis it's not football.." - last night, thought that was funny. 3.6 attempts from 3 per game, same 2 years in a row. So, I think he's shooting just enough to keep teams honest and not enough to make his 29% kill his team. He's probably not getting any better at it at this point in his career, so as long as his numbers stay in that range, he should be fine until his athleticism starts to go and he either needs to shoot better or just become a pure low post guy.