WrigleyField 22

Okay, apparently he has a NTC. That could help tamp down his market.

I feel like a third rounder should get it done. I could be way off.

The back end young guys he added were an upgrade from what he had a year ago. Plus he has a bajillion cap dollars. They will be able to fill out depth without any requirements on that first pick. Feels like my point maybe is being missed though? One trade back : reasonable bet Multiple trade backs? No idea. But 1 back to 4-9 is still gonna get you a lot. I don't think he needs multiple trade backs to get a couple extra high-ish picks. At some point there is a diminishing return on a team with few star potential players. They can find opportunity for good starters in FA. Increasingly the only way you get stars is to draft or trade for them. Higher up, better chance of stars. This would also be in the context that the next logical

Taking a break from QB click bait: Inching closer to new CEO?

I was just using last year's Day 3 trades as evidence that Poles knows they need multiple players. I don't expect him to add 9 guys on Day 3 again. But I think he will use the same approach now with upper level talent. Last year, he was throwing horsefeathers at the wind. This year, a trade down would be building the top of the roster, long term. But just using other teams actions as an example, early round pick treatment isn't necessarily congruent with late round treatment. And frankly he needs less players now. The bottom of roster building has gone *okay*. He still needs to get a few stars. Unless he's trading for assets to in turn trade back for vet stars, I'm not super confident he'll go into crazy pick asset acquisition mode. There's still a pretty big difference from top 10 to next 10.

I don't think we should necessarily take a volume day 3 approach as necessarily indicative of a overall volume approach. Lot of teams have had success with volume mid-late pick approach to compensate being much more agressive early. TBD. (which isn't to say he isn't going to trade down once, but how far is a question, and I wouldn't necessarily expect multiple trade downs. He's gonna want a blue chipper at what hopefully will be his only time in the top 10)

do the reasonable thing and quit your job Quiet quit

No runner up prizes for all that?

If they fall in love with a guy, anything is possible, IMO. Multiple possibilities will exist for the Bears and the line to balance will be selling early so they can formulate more of their offseason plan around it, or letting that market brew. Fwiw: some recent pre draft trades: April 14 and April 20, 2016, Rams/Eagles trade up (draft day was April 28) March 26, 2021 (!) 49ers trade up (draft was April 29) I won't complain about a 49ers type trade where the team just blows the doors off to seal it early.

Hm, looks like only part is guaranteed. 12M. The remainder is only injury guaranteed, but I think he's healthy now, and was just demoted. So 12M guaranteed, but an additional 17M guarantees after March 19. I'd think they'll just eat the 12 and save the 17.

Division opponent - requires an extra 1st than anyone else Say they offer 6/18/2nd plus ‘24 1st, do you turn it down? No

Yep. Even if we drop to 7 or 9, Bears could still get someone like Murphy, Johnston, OL, or depending on how FA goes, Bijan Robinson. Elite talent is elite talent. Be interesting to see if Lions think Goff is the answer or not. They have the 6th and 18th that could go a long way in a package for #1. Division opponent - requires an extra 1st than anyone else

Well trading down to 20 is probably a sign you took yourself out of high impact range. Yea, you're presumably getting future FRP, but of unknown value. Carolina at 9 seems like a reasonable limit where you still get a top flight prospect. If 2 QBs go, you can get a top 7 guy on your board at least.

He had Baker Mayfield at Tech and ran him off. Is that a bad thing? Mayfield sucks and is a fraud. He... Won a damn Heisman.

The Bengals were going to have to have their 1st round game vs the Ravens HFA picked by a coinflip had the Ravens won yesterday, despite being a 1/2 game better. I think the logic between no coin flip or neutral site vs Bills is that they actually played the same number of games. The issue comes when one team played 17 games and the Bengals only 16. But since Bengals and Bills 17th game was actually against each other and determined who would have HFA in a potential matchup, it doesn't make sense that it wasn't treated the same. While I get that matchup would have determined HFA, I just can't get around letting that be worth a whole game in the standings. Ultimately it comes down to fairness, right? But if there was a 2 v 3 matchup where the teams were never scheduled to play you wouldnt demand they get a regular season matchup to determine seeding. Just an oddity of scheduling. But one team went 13-3 and the other 12-4. Can't let one cancelled game sway results of 16 others IMO. Beyond that there probably are practical matters. Trying to line up multiple potential neutral sites just adds a lot of extra contingencies on short notice. Extraordinary situation and all, and I think the coin toss thing was inconsistently applied, but I don't think the Bengals have legit reason to be mad about any Bills matchup.

Will hopefully be a quiet GM cycle. Seems like the past 2 were busy. Perhaps Houston ends up as the 3rd. Not sure any of the playoff guys are at risk if they disappoint. None jump out, at least at GM. Tampa maybe? Chargers? Any teams that we'll get a late Tuesday call on... Rams or Colts as a late Tuesday surprise?

They regret not following through on the "Rookie QB salary" theory once and are gonna take the haul and rebuild a roster around next QB, and repeat every 5 years. Half serious only, but they'd be at the top of the list of franchises who would totally try that.

Make that 2 requests for Ian already What other GM spots are open?

Ideally Poles isn't left trying to fill a major leadership vacuum right before what's gonna be a busy offseason

I think the guy who staked his claim to Brees isn't gonna be scared by a short QB. That said, he may not be all about the whole package of Murray. But money and control go a long way. Murray's contract isn't terrible. His 2024 is guaranteed, and then 2025-27 base guarantees happen a year out. So you're really making a series of 2 year commitments to Murray, but even then those guaranteed salaries aren't terrible to the point you couldn't walk from him any time after 2024. Especially true if Payton learned anything from Loomis.

I'd be pretty disappointed if that was all they got for the #1 overall pick. Effectively, in that trade, DJ Moore would have to be worth the equivalence of another 1st round pick. The gap in value between 1 and 9 is immense. I don’t mind that trade if you are dead set on giving Fields ample weapons. Moore might be the best possible WR that the bears can acquire. That said I’d rather do that trade but with the Colts/Pittman Like Pittman better or just like staying in the top 4 more?

It would be unique, but Lovie is a unique guy. Two names that came up when thinking about long term coaches that left an organization were Shanahan and Holmgren, both of whom moved on to establish themselves as major figures in their next stop. Lovie coached two years at Tampa then came back home* to coach in college, which not a lot of established NFL coaches have done. He’s in his mid 60s and his head coaching opportunities are probably behind him. Does he want to be a full blown defensive coordinator again? John Fox has become a defensive assistant in his late 60s, albeit not to an organization he had previous ties to, but that particular wrinkle doesn’t strike me as an obstacle. 2000s era bears coaches wouldn’t have wanted Ditka coming back as a voice in the room, but Lovie isn’t that type of coach. I 100% want this. I don't remember if there is anyone with coaching experience on the staff, but I'd love Lovie in a consulting role. Like you said, this is his defense. He never really had issue identifying guys who could play in his scheme. He was Ryan Poles' coach. And it's probably the last chance he gets to ever be involved in coaching for the rest of his career. It makes a ton of sense. Seeing some rumors he didn't connect well with players. Of course the dirt gets aired when a guy is fired, so grain of salt, but it does seem like his best role is more advisory in nature. On the other hand I really don't like the idea of them being "all-in" on Tampa 2 legacy systems. Personal attachment to Lovie aside, I want to see them being real critical of where their D scheme was lacking and adjust to the needs of the league.

Keim also out in Arizona. With rumors of Caserio possibly out in Houston, I think all of the top 3 picks could be looking to sell down. I don't know if there's enough helium in Levis or Richardson to see a repeat of 2021, but 1-2-3 QB isn't out of question.. If real buyers emerge.

Some high profile things like pro day visits are sure occur because there's probably a half dozen other prospects at Ohio State and Bama anyways. That alone is gonna cause a ruckus when one photo shows up of Poles being impressed by a Young throw. I'd even say some combine meetings with some of these guys is normal due diligence and a reasonable, if obvious, smoke screen to your fellow league execs. But I don't expect it to be seriously entertained or resourced. They don't need all the detailed digging on these guys. You know probably 80% of what you can know and except for a once in a generation situation, you know every guy carries tons of risk. I don't think either is that once in a generation guy. Digging for that other 20% is only done if you're first considering a move, and you're digging about their soft skills, not the talent.

Less than a year after an extension. Bet he has some coaching offsets, so it will be interesting if he hits up the media gigs for a few years (could do ncaa as well as nfl)