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WrigleyField 22

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Everything posted by WrigleyField 22

  1. The fullback who was signed to a guaranteed extension lol
  2. Ceded? He was stripped of that power, if that's what you mean. It was not willingly given up. He also spent 2 years as a VP of Player Personnel after coming up through the admin side. That is a-typical of most GMs, especially in past 30 years since the advent of salary cap. His background before GM was predominantly not personnel related. Certainly not what Poles is (and it shows in their understanding of what the salary cap actually is).
  3. Ben Johnson is like the difference of a QB prospect who'd have been #1 for consecutive drafts and one who flashes onto the scene, which is more like Daboll. There's bust/reward risk in each, but the former is a better hit rate. I can't think of a more consensus 1st time HC candidate since Shannahan, really. So like yea, they have to go through the full process or whatever, but he looms over any other candidate choice.
  4. They've only settled into that by a lot of trial and error (they 100% sidelined him at one point). Also Roseman is certainly not the mold of Player personnel specialist. So they're kind of their own category. Edit - Saints basically in same category too (to a slightly varying degree).
  5. Yea I mean they basically did the "strong HC as leader of football ops" once, with Wanny. Due to Halas's death and org disfunction Ditka probably grew into that role too, but by that point he grew into that role was a SB winning coach... Which any coach with that level of success always encroaches into that power structure. Then Angelo-Emery-Pace-Poles since Phillips looked to modernize the role of GM as head of football org. Not entirely inspiring results. Like who are the most successful franchises in last 30ish years. Baltimore is the only one that immediately pops to mind where the Head Coach isn't by design the top/equal football voice in the room. It doesn't seem like a bad model. Maybe Poles can fit into that structure and add value? Maybe not.
  6. We don't really have concrete reason to think one way or the other honestly. Hence the if. We know George went pretty quickly from Poles reporting directly into him to handing those reigns back to Warren basically as soon as he could. If Warren sees it a different way than Phillips did, he has the power to make it so. Maybe some heavy reading between lines / taking grain of salt rumors at face value, indicates Warren will see it that way.
  7. I think that's probably an overwhelmingly binary way to look at it. But it kind of depends how you view the lens of GM. A lot of GMs are just glorified player personnel directors. You could view him as valued, but not worth sidelining candidates over if that's how you view the GM role at large. The only thing at odds with that POV is that he's supposedly leading the search... Which I don't really believe from Warren.
  8. I mean framed in that way it sounds stupider than it probably is. Some of that is because of Kevin's words about Poles leading the process which I don't really believe. I think putting the head coach on the top of the chain is something you do for the right head coach. And thats probably a better operating model for the Bears than for most teams honestly. But there's no guarantee there is that right guy available. I think there's arguably two guys who are available and demand that type of clout. A couple others that could become free agent coaches or would be worth trade capital to get who'd also be worth doing that for. But it's still a limited list. So if you get shut out, then what. Do you let Poles hire with a short leash for both? Just clear the slate from the jump? Most fans would prefer a very linear approach, but I think the whole idea of coach or GM as de facto head of football is still often candidate dependent. My hot take is this could end up looking like the Bills 2017 offseason where the GM is replaced in May. You can of course argue against that process though Bills have been a pretty strong org since that year, whether because they made a good hire that supersedes bad process or that the process isn't inherently bad.
  9. Ladies, he's a freak in the sheets.
  10. Well that sucks. The news that he was in remission seemed too good to be true given the initial diagnosis.
  11. Barring something like family circumstances he'd be pretty crazy to leave on his own accord. He can be pissed about the change but wasn't there word that candidates knew Phillips may be on his way out? He took a risk and doesn't like his new boss?
  12. Eh, not that uncommon. Bears just suck at picking the guys.
  13. Ha, good luck if he thinks that's the pull he has. Maybe just doing pre-work for after the eventual firing (in 2026)
  14. I know there's also that idea of like "theres only so many of these jobs, guys aren't gonna pass up opportunities", but (1) Poles literally did pass up other opportunities to focus on Bears one and (2) I kind of think you need to be a little daring and crazy to excel in these roles. I like when a Ben Johnson is confident and out there enough to be like "nah, I have demands". It's a leadership role. If Poles accepted constraints he wasn't comfortable with... 🤷
  15. There may be a lot of CYA going on, but it's murky at best.
  16. He did spend relatively top OL dollar one time... 😕 Also let a pretty youg/good one walk his first year. That positional swing alone was hugely detrimental to the state of the OL.
  17. For most in demand coaches, the correct structure is a GM with relatively less power so they can bend to their will. May even want 53 man say. Or it's an Eberflus who will likely be deferential to the GM. For as much as most are convinced Poles had no say in Flus, he was also a fairly safe choice for a first time, young GM. He just chose the safe choice that actually still hit all the low end returns. Or maybe it was really ownerships/Phillips choice fully. I tend to think it was likely somewhere in middle and not forced / arranged.
  18. Poles doesn't need to be extended. But it does require Warren to have the most significant role in hiring. Thats I guess bad news if you're hyper focused on a top down view of GM-HC that is frankly less common than people treat it. It's fine if you want the most in demand coach (obviously with having to trust Warren)
  19. I'm kind of surprised Johnson isn't just asking for some level of direct control rather than GM-HC alignment. It's not that hard to get 53 man control if you're a hot commodity and willing to be patient.
  20. Yea, i don't care about dumb rules. Not supposed to be a particularly strong class. Go Jeanty if he looks like clear best player.
  21. Bradys rise pre-dates Allen. But he also kind of rose and then fell before re-rising his profile with Allen this year. In terms of taking a spin at the OC wheel, he's fine, I think. Johnson is obviously the more exciting one, but I don't know how much that really means at the end of the day.
  22. Bears need to win to push the fire Shannahan narrative.
  23. Eh, if they actually nail the head coaching hire, I don't really think it's a terrible thing if you have to backfill GM with a glorified player of pro personnel type to run the front office (if Poles experiment flames out). Like many NFL structures you'll just have a structure where the HC is equal or above the GM. Plenty of teams do this. At this point, Poles biggest accomplishments are having enough guts to lead a tank job and then taking advantage of David Tepper. Everything else is probably replacement level GMing on the whole.
  24. Ben Johnson, for sure, among the first time coach candidates. There's been plenty of smoke that he'll be selective. Granted Ryan Pace in a similar scenario/track record got what many considered the hottest name in the market in 2018 and went it all alone. But enough has probably changed (even if some of that is the self inflicted perception of the Bears org) that having the HC hire come from the highest level of organization possible might be the best approach if you want to swing as big as possible. If you wanna just spin the OC wheel and don't care if Johnson and Vrabel or others turn you down because you just trust Poles, then Warren taking the reigns sucks. Just depends.
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