raw

As is typical, the Bears had a bunch of people in to try out during minicamp. They actually signed 3 of them. Julie'n Davenport, OT, former starting LT of the Texans. He played so well that they traded multiple 1sts for Laremy Tunsil. He has had some decent moments though and was a guy I liked coming out of college. David Moore, WR, former Seahawks WR who had some nice games and looked like he was breaking out a couple different times. Spent a few weeks in GB this past year. Greg Stroman, Jr, CB. Chicago has now cornered the market (no pun) on athletic Stromans (Stromen?). Played a lot of nickel as a rookie in Washington, showed promise. Hasn't done much since.

Is it though? Only thing better than trading for a top tier WR, is drafting a top tier WR and having him in team control for 4 years (+ tag potential for 2 more). Also the guys traded or rumored so far: Adams, Hill, AJ Brown, Deebo, and DK were all 2nd round picks or later. So that could be reason to not trade for a guy. Mooney has to be paid in the next 2 years as well. So, if you traded for one of these guys, sure you'd have a really nice WR room, but you'd also be looking at 35-40M worth of WRs in a couple years. That money isn't a huge deal with a QB on a rookie salary, but the reason the ones that have been traded were traded is because they had QBs making huge money. This is the bad thing about not moving on from Pace/Nagy a year earlier. Assume we shed the bad contracts last year, committed to Fields for all of lest season, allowed him an entire season of snaps/development in the new system. Picking up a guy like Deebo could be an option then, but I agree with raw that paying in trade and contract is unlikely. The chatter about WR's demanding so much cap and therefore drafting a receiver is a better option is funny to me. Of course drafting a high performing reciever is better than trade/high dollar extension. It's the same for every position and not as easy as it seems. Thing is, if they moved on from Pace/Nagy after 2020, Poles or whoever the new GM would have been, probably doesn't trade up for Fields last year. All new GMs are big on talking "build thru the draft". I don't see anyone coming in and making a bold move like giving up a future pick for Fields. That's basically tying your tenure as a GM to Fields. And if he fails, you're looking at 3 years on the job at most.

Adams took a 1 and 2. Tyreke Hill took a 1 and 2 + some day 3 picks next year. Bears don't have the 1 to give this year, but a 2 this year (39) and a 1st next year, would probably get the deal done. That being said, I don't think it's likely. Won't cost as much AAV and we know he fits in what Getsy says he's going to run, but I just can't see it with the way Poles has played the rest of this offseason. I'd agree, it's very unlikely. It's just a shame when we have an unprecedented amount of top tier WR on the move this offseason, a position the Bears badly need to fill, and the Bears are probably not in on any of them. Is it though? Only thing better than trading for a top tier WR, is drafting a top tier WR and having him in team control for 4 years (+ tag potential for 2 more). Also the guys traded or rumored so far: Adams, Hill, AJ Brown, Deebo, and DK were all 2nd round picks or later. So that could be reason to not trade for a guy. Mooney has to be paid in the next 2 years as well. So, if you traded for one of these guys, sure you'd have a really nice WR room, but you'd also be looking at 35-40M worth of WRs in a couple years. That money isn't a huge deal with a QB on a rookie salary, but the reason the ones that have been traded were traded is because they had QBs making huge money.

Adams took a 1 and 2. Tyreke Hill took a 1 and 2 + some day 3 picks next year. Bears don't have the 1 to give this year, but a 2 this year (39) and a 1st next year, would probably get the deal done. That being said, I don't think it's likely. Won't cost as much AAV and we know he fits in what Getsy says he's going to run, but I just can't see it with the way Poles has played the rest of this offseason.

Yeah and honestly, it's probably the smart way to play it. Pace put all his eggs in the Trubisky basket and went big to win with him in his rookie contract window in 2018 (Mack, ARob, paying players already on the team). If Poles did that and Fields wasn't the guy, that's basically a waste of time. If Fields shows what they expect him to, they can be the 2021 Bengals or 2020 Bills really quick. They will have the money and/or draft pick ammunition to add almost whoever they want with Fields. Pace had a top 5 D to pair with Trubisky. That's a pretty good bet to make since you have 1/2 of the team already at top performance. If Trubisky hits big, the Bears are real good. Poles has Fields,,,,,,and that's about it. He has to build SOMETHING Yes, and that's why his approach does make sense. Fields alone doesn't make a team contend, despite being the most important piece. So, Poles concluded it didn't make much sense to pay an older guy like Mack, when he could trade him for a pick to select a younger player to build along with Fields. And why it didn't make much sense to him to spend big money on 1-2 positions to help Fields and potentially have those guys eating into cap room they'd need to really go for it with Fields. I posted my mock offseason. I would have loved a proven WR. I really wanted Laken Tomlinson (and eventually Terron Armstead) to really solidify at least 1 spot on the OL. But I get why Poles didn't do that (or maybe he wasn't able?). Hopefully, this time next year we're looking at a team that not only has Justin Fields to build around but also has Darnell Mooney, Cole Kmet, Teven Jenkins, Larry Borom, Khalil Herbert, and two 2022 2nd round picks who all stepped up to be part of this team's future on offense.

I don't really think it has much validity, but also the moves they have made to date are not equivalent to many other moves teams make around a 2nd year QB historically. The big difference of course being regime change. It is gonna be easier for Poles to cut bait. He doesn't have to tie his stakes to Fields. That's plainly factual. Yeah and honestly, it's probably the smart way to play it. Pace put all his eggs in the Trubisky basket and went big to win with him in his rookie contract window in 2018 (Mack, ARob, paying players already on the team). If Poles did that and Fields wasn't the guy, that's basically a waste of time. If Fields shows what they expect him to, they can be the 2021 Bengals or 2020 Bills really quick. They will have the money and/or draft pick ammunition to add almost whoever they want with Fields.

I mean, I know what you mean and I mostly agree. But the playoffs will be against teams they haven't beaten all year, even when they've been playing well and mostly to fully healthy. They'll probably play better, but I think there's very little chance they get out of the 1st round and I doubt they win 2 games in any series.

Yeah, over like 2.5Mil is a decent chunk for TE2. It's interesting because the Shanahan/Kubiak scheme isn't typically that big on 2TE sets. SF, LAR, and Minnesota all finished bottom five in plays with 12 personnel (1 RB, 2TEs). But Green Bay, where Getsy obviously came from, ran the 2nd most 2 TE sets (next to Miami, who almost never lined Gesicki up tight). GB didn't run much FB though. SF ran the most with a FB. Rams didn't have one at all. So, it just seems to me like they are putting it all on the table and seeing what works.

Bears also signed Nickel CB, Tavon Young in addition to TE Ryan Griffin. Young is a formerly really good nickel. He's had a couple injuries in the past, including a torn ACL and missed a bunch of time. He did play all 17 in 2021, but was less effective than he had been previously. To be fair, the entire Ravens defensive backfield struggled last year for some reason, after previously being as elite of a group as there is in the NFL. Griffin was formerly the Jets starting TE. Lot of experience. Not going to give Kmet a run for his money, but may be one of the better #2 TEs in the league. Played almost 56% of the Jets snaps last year which led skill players on that team. Can block and catch some. He doesn't fit with any of the other FAs Poles has signed because he's older than 28. Assuming Foles is cut/traded, he'd be the oldest non-longsnapper on the roster at 32 years old.

That's wild. So, I'm guessing there is some truth to the Brady/Arians rift as well. Funny that Brian Flores, who didn't want Tua at all, kind of indirectly saved his NFL career. Would have been tossed aside but instead they turned the picks & money for Payton/Brady into Tyreke Hill and Terron Armstead to better support Tua. This is like the season finale episode of a fictional TV sports drama.

I mean, yeah that would be bad. But that's more of a coaching issue. The Bears OL wasn't any less talented than many OLs around the league. The problem was the combination of mediocre talent along with obvious pass downs and pass formations allowing pass rushers to tee off. One thing Getsy has said is that he wants the pass game to look like the run game. RPOs, playactions, extra TEs, staying out of obvious pass down and distances will help. It's not an ideal situation, but kind of is what it is at this point. Jenkins has gotta be good. Patrick has got to be a significant upgrade at C. The early draft picks have got to hit. At this point, got nothing else but to hope Poles/Cunningham (2 former offensive linemen) really know their stuff. I'm counting on scheme upgrades, but why wouldn't you want both talent upgrades and scheme improvement? And even if they hit on 38 or 49 for a RG, it's still a very thin depth chart. Would be much preferred if they have a reasonable answer for RG and even swing tackle or swing IOL before draft. Maybe in next 3.5 weeks there will be movement on that front. While some of the younger more high ceiling names are long gone there are some stop gaps. Either that or really banking on post June 1 cuts. But they won't be the only team watching the waiver wire at that stage. Yeah that's my one big issue with Poles so far. He was willing to spend 13M per year on Ogunjobi but wasn't willing to spend that on a guard. 13M per could have gotten you any guard on the market. And 1 good-to-elite player on the OL would go a long way on an offense that doesn't have any.

Problem isn't Poles, it's your expectations. Poles wasn't going to come in and build this team into a contender with 5 draft picks, little cap room, and like 23 players under contract. What's the threshold for you to be ok with what he's done? Did you want to pay Christian Kirk 19M per season? Did you want to trade 1 or more of the limited draft picks just for the right to pay a WR 20-25Mil/year (Cooper, Hill, Adams)? He tried to add Bates, but the deal was matched? They were in on other linemen who got paid more than they were willing to pay, and probably went to teams closer to winning than the Bears are. I would have liked a stud lineman or proven WR as much as anyone else, but the only reason why you are disappointed is because he didn't do what you wanted him to do, not because of what he's done/hasn't done. If the Bears had signed Terron Armstead and traded for Robert Woods (using him because his trade value and contract are most reasonable of the deals made) they'd still be a team that's not good enough to seriously compete for a Superbowl, maybe not even a playoff spot. If you're that far away and need 21 other players, there's really not a point in hampering your future ability to add players by giving 15M/year to a 30+ year old or trading draft picks for a big salary or injury risk, in Woods' case. The GM and the coaching is the help this year. Clearly those were huge issues for Fields last year, by his own admission at least in the Cleveland game. Just relax and give it more than 2 months. I don't really disagree with you much, but if Fields gets killed this year because the O-Line is so bad and turns into David Carr then you've set yourself back another 3-4 years. It's certainly a fine line to walk. I mean, yeah that would be bad. But that's more of a coaching issue. The Bears OL wasn't any less talented than many OLs around the league. The problem was the combination of mediocre talent along with obvious pass downs and pass formations allowing pass rushers to tee off. One thing Getsy has said is that he wants the pass game to look like the run game. RPOs, playactions, extra TEs, staying out of obvious pass down and distances will help. It's not an ideal situation, but kind of is what it is at this point. Jenkins has gotta be good. Patrick has got to be a significant upgrade at C. The early draft picks have got to hit. At this point, got nothing else but to hope Poles/Cunningham (2 former offensive linemen) really know their stuff.

Problem isn't Poles, it's your expectations. Poles wasn't going to come in and build this team into a contender with 5 draft picks, little cap room, and like 23 players under contract. What's the threshold for you to be ok with what he's done? Did you want to pay Christian Kirk 19M per season? Did you want to trade 1 or more of the limited draft picks just for the right to pay a WR 20-25Mil/year (Cooper, Hill, Adams)? He tried to add Bates, but the deal was matched? They were in on other linemen who got paid more than they were willing to pay, and probably went to teams closer to winning than the Bears are. I would have liked a stud lineman or proven WR as much as anyone else, but the only reason why you are disappointed is because he didn't do what you wanted him to do, not because of what he's done/hasn't done. If the Bears had signed Terron Armstead and traded for Robert Woods (using him because his trade value and contract are most reasonable of the deals made) they'd still be a team that's not good enough to seriously compete for a Superbowl, maybe not even a playoff spot. If you're that far away and need 21 other players, there's really not a point in hampering your future ability to add players by giving 15M/year to a 30+ year old or trading draft picks for a big salary or injury risk, in Woods' case. The GM and the coaching is the help this year. Clearly those were huge issues for Fields last year, by his own admission at least in the Cleveland game. Just relax and give it more than 2 months.

I think it was a tough spot to be in. Because every rational person knew the Bears weren't good enough. They knew the QB wasn't good enough, the coaching wasn't good enough, and the roster was hamstrung by bad contracts and lack of draft picks. All very valid reason to fire everyone after 2020. But I think the no losing seasons and 2 of 3 playoff years made it tough to fire them. There were a lot of disaster situations, but no disaster season from Nagy/Pace combo. Obviously, you shouldn't wait for a disaster to get rid of something that's not working, but I think the difference was that playoff game they were able to squeeze into. This is about the worst case scenario of the "high draft pick QB on rookie contract GO FOR IT" model. The Bears are easily on the worse end of this scale because of their imbalance in money spent on defense. You spend a ton on offensive line and weapons and the QB/OC/HC can't scheme ot motivate, you sway out whatever pieces and the talent is still there. The Bears didn't have enough offensive talent and were very heavy on defense so there was no quick fix. I agree that it would be hard to move on after missing the playoffs for the first time, but as you said, it was obvious that the 2019 and 2020 teams were not going on a deep playoff run. I would have loved to have been in the room for the meeting beween Pace/Nagy and ownership after 2020. "How are you going to fix it?" There was no good answer from Pace and Nagy except "gimme another vet QB, I have one I like. No, not that one, another one." How McCaskey and Phillips ended that meeting demanding progress from Pace/Nagy was just an astonishing decision unless neither one knows jack squat about the game. Watch the games and it should be obvious, but they blew that decision. This would have led to a 2020 with Foles entrenched as the starter going in. Foles would suck and eventually miss time to injury and the tank would have been on in completely natural form. The quick fix would have been what the Dolphins did. They didn't have the draft capital to trade for Tyreke Hill, but they could have gone for Amari Cooper and signed Armstead, a guard, Cedric Wilson or whoever else they did. I think most Bears fans would be ecstatic with that type of offseason. But that's wasn't really realistic in the Bears situation. I think the goal of this regime is to have some pieces is place on offense for 2023. Fields obviously is the biggest piece. But they're hoping Jenkins, Mooney, and probably at least 2 of the Day 2 picks this year (WR, OL) are big pieces as well. Guys like Patrick, Kmet, Pringle, and Borom could be smaller pieces. If those big pieces work out, then you're probably 1 more early draft pick and a FA signing on the OL away from being a pretty solid offense. 2023 offense: Qb- Fields RB- Herbert, whoever (Montgomery a FA) WR- Mooney, 2022 2nd round pick, 2023 2nd round pick? TE- Kmet LT- 2023 1st round pick? Should be top 10 LG- 2023 FA? C- Patrick RG- 2022 2nd/3rd round pick RT- Jenkins That's the makings of a talented young offense, with a couple vets on the OL and Mooney the vet at WR.

Sucks that we we “went for it” the year we had an impossible schedule and are retooling the year we have an easy schedule I can't get over the decision to keep Nagy and Pace following 2020. It was so obvious at that time that it needed to be done, setting up Pace and Nagy to go for it one more time almost literally against all odds (hardest schedule, no QB, aging roster, OL problems, lack of weapons). Drafting Fields made no sense with those guys doing what they were doing. I'll stop here, cuz this is a bad cycle I get into! I think it was a tough spot to be in. Because every rational person knew the Bears weren't good enough. They knew the QB wasn't good enough, the coaching wasn't good enough, and the roster was hamstrung by bad contracts and lack of draft picks. All very valid reason to fire everyone after 2020. But I think the no losing seasons and 2 of 3 playoff years made it tough to fire them. There were a lot of disaster situations, but no disaster season from Nagy/Pace combo. Obviously, you shouldn't wait for a disaster to get rid of something that's not working, but I think the difference was that playoff game they were able to squeeze into.

Can't believe Treylon Burks may slip to the 2nd round. I understand his limitations, but his play on the field says more than running around in underwear does. He's a big play waiting to happen whether you get the ball to him short, deep or intermediate. This is probably how I'd rank them as far as talent goes, but with the caveat that the Bears really need an outside WR, so if they pass on Dotson for Pickens or Watson, I'd understand completely. Dotson and Moore can play outside, though they are smaller, but may be better off playing all over the field similar to Mooney and maybe Pringle as well.

IIRC, I think Cruikshank is very good defending against TEs, but yes, he's another DHC type. If we can sign a capable SS to start and then a minimum $$ FS to back up Jackson/5th safety, I'm fine with the safeties as a group. Do Bears normally have 5 safeties on their roster? 4 safeties is the norm. I believe the Bears have gone w/ 5 in the past for special teams purposes. Teez Tabor was listed as a CB, but played more safety than anything, so the Bears would have had Jackson, Gipson, DHC, Bush and Tabor last year at S.

1-4 is so tight too that I don't even know what seed I want the Bulls to get. Philly is the 4-seed right now, so that's a terrible 4-5 matchup. Milwaukee isn't any better. Ideal path to the ECF is Boston and Miami in some order, IMO. Obviously, both still really good teams (and Boston is red hot when they play their full roster) but I don't see the Sixers or Bucks as a team the Bulls can beat right now. Maybe they take a couple series for PAW and Caruso to get back to full strength and finding their spots in the rotation, and I'll take my chances then. But right now, I'm hoping they finish 6th if Boston or Miami ends up 3rd, and I hope the other finishes 2nd. I don't want play-in vs. Brooklyn at all, so 6th is the lowest I hope they go (should be safely in top 6).

The threshold to count toward the comp pick formula is typically around 2.5Mil. I don't think it's a "set" amount, it's just based on percentage of contracts signed. Only players who sign contracts in the top 35% of AAV league-wide qualify for a comp pick. And with rookie deals, UDFA deals, vet minimums, etc. 65% of NFL contracts tend to be less than 2.5M AAV on any given year.

Do you have me blocked?

I suppose it's possible. Nagy said all the right things about Trubisky to get the job but then turned into a complete douche toward him. Would really make me question everything about Poles and Eberflus as talent evaluators.

Looking thru some of the recently drafted QBs, the closest situation to what Fields will be in this year, may be Mariota in Tennessee. Drafted in 2015 New GM in 2016 inherited him New coach (kinda) as Mularkey was the interim during Mariota's rookie year Mariota also had some bad weapons. Rishard Matthews, Tajae Sharpe as his top WRs. Kendall Wright, who somehow always finds his way in a bad WR room, was there as well. Delanie Walker was then a pretty good TE. They did have Andre Johnson, but he was 35 and a shadow of his former self. They had 2 very good RBs with DeMarco Murray and Derrick Henry. Had a really young OL with Taylor Lewan , Quinton Spain, Ben Jones, Josh Kline, and rookie Jack Conklin all 27 or under. As a comparison... Mooney > any WR on TEN Matthews = Pringle (young WR, breakout-ish year with his previous team, cheap FA signing) Sharpe was a 5th round rookie that year, have to assume the Bears will draft a WR early so Advantage: Bears Wright was a 1st round bust, but did have a big 2nd year in TEN > Dazz No real equivalent to Johnson, hope it stays that way. But probably > St. Brown even at 35 Walker > Kmet, but not a huge difference Murray/Henry = Montgomery/Herbert. Just because RBs don't matter and Henry wasn't used much just yet. Conklin > Jenkins. Conklin was a top 10 pick. Slightly more talented than Jenkins a projected top 25 or so pick last year Lewan > Borom. Big difference in talent here Spain, Jones, Kline probably not much better than Whitehair, Patrick and whoever the RG will be. Jones is a solid C. Those other 2 are journeymen at best. Mariota did have his best season that year. 26-9 TD:INT ratio, 3400 passing yards, 61% completions, 95.6 QB rating. Given the circumstances, I'd take that neighborhood of that performance from Fields. Obviously, things didn't continue upward for Mariota so hopefully this year is where the comparison would end.

Did you mean to link something? Definitely did mean to lol The big difference is that the Bills were able to draft Allen in that first year, whereas Justin already is a year in. The perspective will change if he puts up 2018 Josh Allen numbers in Year 2, as opposed to Year 1. Very unique situation where a team inherits a 2nd year QB from a GM that just traded a future pick to move up to get him. Teams don't usually allow lame duck GMs to mortgage the future for a QB.

I think Poles definitely thought the market would pan out a certain way and it very clearly didn't, especially at WR. I think he thought Christian Kirk or MVS would be 6-8Mil/year type guys. I think he thought he'd be able to add solid OL help for value prices. That's the naivety of a new GM, I guess. All that is fine. I think the whole 1st, 2nd, 3rd wave stuff is truly where Poles intended to focus his time. But those values not matching what he thought players were worth threw him off, as his 2nd/3rd wave guys were going in the 1st wave that he wasn't willing to get into. That being said, he did get into the first wave for a DT that he was going to pay $13M/year for. My biggest issue with everything is that he wasn't willing to go in that first wave for offensive line help, to actually help his young QB. Seems like way too much focus is on guys who will stand up for their QB after taking a hard hit, instead of focusing on not getting his QB hit in the first place. He told us this line wasn't good enough, then didn't even try to re-sign the best player from that line last year. The 2nd best player on the OL was 40, so he's clearly not coming back. So, now you've added 1 replacement. Granted, it was the weakest piece on the OL, but the replacement isn't exactly a sure thing either. I'm fine with the approach. Not overpaying tier 1 guys is fine. Not going after 30+ year old players is fine. Short term deals on players with upside is fine. But there's nothing about the roster as of March 28, 2022 that is fine. It's terrible and it's not even terrible in a rebuilding way. It's not like the Jets or even Lions roster. It's a roster with no direction for a 22-year old franchise QB.

A big who can defend and protect the rim in a trade for Vuc. I think Vuc is gone. I think a rim protector at the 5 and then a small ball 5 that can knock down outside shots to replace Vuc would be the ideal makeup with the rest of the team. Basically, a guy like Tristan Thompson for the starting lineup, and they still need a player like we were all talking about before the trade deadline.