dawhizz

I could be dissuaded, but as of now, I think Poles' decision tree at #9 looks like this: 1) If one of the top three WRs is there, take him. 2) If there is a good deal to trade down without going below #20 or so, take it. 3) Failing those two, take Jared Verse. He just seems to have the size and versatility (run + pass) that would appeal to the team while still having pass rush upside, and being a pretty safe pick. Plus I think Verse's demeanor (that he has a bit of a chip on his shoulder after starting out at Albany) will appeal to Poles.

Another Caleb breakdown (positive) for this still interested in such things: https://youtu.be/_7tIJM6wKeM?si=TIpQRz0zkifj0Y-f

Interesting report from Tony Pauline that the Bears are focusing on either Rome or Bowers at #9 if they go the pass catcher route. https://www.sportskeeda.com/nfl/news-insider-notes-2024-nfl-draft-where-brock-bowers-land-ravens-plans-rt

For those interested in draft stuff, I’m always a sucker for the write-ups Bob McGinn does every year with scouts notes on the top prospects. He might be making them all up for all I know, but it’s an interesting (apparent) look behind the curtain on prospects, a lot of which seem to come from old school type football guys. You can find it on Substack via the Go Long feed, and it’s only $8 to him for the mine month before the draft and then cancel. He did a brief write up on stuff a few weeks ago but started in earnest today with the more extensive WR write ups. Just passing it along.

I get that but the Bears do have ten OL currently who have all started games. You have options if there are issues with Davis or Jenkins.

So, are you moving Wright to LT? Because I’m pretty sure Fuaga projects best to RT.

It’s strange to me that they focused a lot on first round WRs and DEs in their visits and really no mid-round guys for those positions. The projected mid-round guys they’ve brought in have been primarily at CB and OT. Maybe they don’t want to telegraph their interesting some mid round guys.

I’d really like this.

Here's my take at the moment on what the Bears do: 1a) Caleb Williams, QB, USC - Fait Accompli 2a) Rome Odunze, WR, Washington - I think he'll be there and I think they'll take him. Allen is essentially on a one year deal, Scott is your only other decent receiver, and you want to come out of the draft with someone who can play both outside and in the slot so you can move Allen inside sometimes where he has been really effective in the past. *Trade - Bears trade their 3rd this year and their own 2nd next year to a team in the late 2nd round for their 2nd, a 4th, and a 5th.* 2) Chris Braswell, DE, Alabama - Poles has been willing to move up when a guy high on his board is still there, and the Bears have an extra 2nd next year from the Carolina trade without a lot of starters up as free agents next year. My hunch is that when we get near the end of the second, Poles recognizes that they have a screaming need at DE and will have one guy left on his board who is higher on his board than and will be aggressive to get him. That could be Braswell, Kneeland, Trice, Isaac, etc. 4a) Mekhi Wingo, DT, LSU - Offers versatility between the 3T the Bears have been searching for and maybe even another body to come off the edge to ramp up the pass rush even further. He's a team captain and leader with LSU and seems like a guy that would appeal to Poles. 4b) Jalen McMillan, WR, Washington - It's impossible to predict what WRs will drop in a given years (remember some sites had Tyler Scott as a 2nd round pick) but with Velus Jones and Dante Pettis occupying the 5/6 WR spots even with the addition of Rome, and with a young QB and an exceptional WR class, it makes a ton of sense to me to double dip at WR and take the best guy available here. I'm going with McMillan who can also offer inside/outside versatility and may have been taken much earlier had he had a healthy 2023, but other guys like Javon Baker, Ja'Lynn Polk, or Luke McCaffery could also qualify. 5) Beaux Limmer, OL, Arkansas - I waffled on this pick. I considered a CB like Elijah Jones because the Bears seem to have brought in a lot of mid-round CBs for visits, but I just don't see the need on the roster with Johnson, Stevenson, Gordon, Smith, Blackwell, and Jones/Stroman. I thought about Reiman like Stinger did, but with two TEs locked up long term, I'm not sure they need to spend a pick on a blocking TE when you can get a decent one off the street. I thought about Tory Taylor but I think he might be gone by then. So I went with Limmer, a big, high RAS interior lineman with a ton of SEC experience. Poles needs to solve the center position. Hopefully it's Bates. Maybe it's Shelton. Perhaps it's even Kramer. But let's take one more shot at it with a guy who can also play guard since neither Davis or Jenkins were particularly reliable last year.

Now that we've all had some time to research/obsess about the draft, I always like to get feedback on guys people really like or really don't like. It can be for the Bears specifically or just in general. Who's the late round guy you are pounding the table for? Who's on your bust list? Can we have a thread that doesn't devolve into a Caleb Williams cat fight? These are all questions I want answers to. MY GUYS: - Brian Thomas, WR, LSU - I've said it before, but he looks like George Pickens if Pickens could get separation. - Jamari Thrash, WR, Louisville - I like that he can play both inside and outside, isn't afraid to go over the middle, has speed, and offers return ability. Would be a real nice mid-round target for the Bears to challenge Velus, IMO. - Brandon Dorlus, DL, Oregon - Really active and can play inside and outside - could be a better version of DeMarcus Walker. I think he'd be higher rated if he had stayed at either DT or DE all year and his production would seem more translatable. -Darius Robinson, DE, Missouri - A better version of Dorlus, he might be the DE I would most want if the Bears trade down because he's huge and good against the pass and run. -Jarrian Jones, CB, Florida State - Highest RAS score of any of the CBs at the combine (and 30th best all time for a CB) and his highlights show a guy who isn't afraid to mix it up in the run game reminiscent of Tyrique. The Bears have brought in some mid-round CBs for their top 30 visits but this is a guy who looks like he would be a good fit to me. not my guys: - JJ McCarthy, QB, Michigan - I just don't see it. Even the throws I'm supposed to be impressed often feel like situations where he lucked out because a defender didn't turn around or something. Mac Jones vibes for me at best. - Chop Robinson, DE, Penn State - I hear he's got a great first step and maybe he'll develop, but in ten starts last year, my man had a TOTAL of 15 tackles and five sacks. Meanwhile his teammate Adisa Isaac started only three more games and essentially doubled those numbers. - Ladd McConkey, WR, Georgia - I think he'll be an OK NFL move-the-chains WR, but I wouldn't take him in the first or even second because he seems injured a lot and I don't really see any special traits.

Not sure either of them are big enough, but if you’re just looking for someone who can come in on passing down and kick Walker inside, Kamara would make some sense to me.

Byron Murphy is a DT. Gabriel Murphy (and his twin brother Grayson Murphy) are DEs.

Was looking back at RAS scores for the last two Poles drafts. Interesting to me that the only guy she drafted with an RAS score below 8.00 were Trestan Ebner (free agent) and Velus Jones and Ja’Tyre Carter (both barely holding onto a roster spot, IMO). All those guys were in his 2022 draft - last year all their draft picks were at least 8.25 RAS. That makes me wonder - if they take Rome at 9, what DE would make sense at 75? Bralen Trice and Austin Booker are below 8.00 RAS, so I think you are looking at Gabriel Murphy or Chris Braswell unless Adisa Isaac or Marshawn Kneeland are still around. If we add in long arm length, Murphy has very short arms that might disqualify him. The other guy who I’ll throw out there is Brandon Dorlus, who scores over 8.00 as a DT, but can play DE and might have had more sacks had he played DE all last year instead of working at DT too.

I’m a little skeptical on Tome just because of the lack of separation I see, but I would still probably have to take him if he’s there. I kind of slowly warming to the Byron Muprhy idea - if he can split the difference between Aaron Donald and Calijah Kancey, you have a really good DT rotation - but I still think you have to address edge. I’m currently Verse/Latu/Turner but not real sold on that order (which is why I would favor a trade down if the WRs are gone and all three she’s are there). I can’t really get there on the OTs - I feel like it’s a good class but I don’t really love any of them for some reason.

New video from the official Bears site on the offseason acquisitions. They do a really nice job with these, IMO. https://www.chicagobears.com/video/ryan-poles-breaks-down-offseason-additions-1920-football-drive

MHJ, Latu, and Xavier Worthy all in for visits with the Bears tomorrow.

There’s a lot of chatter in the Twitterverse about maybe taking a 3T over an edge in the first - that would probably be Byron Murphy at 9 or maybe a trade down for Newton. I don’t love it after spending two premium day two picks on DTs last year, but you can’t discount the value of a good 3T given the contracts we’ve seen for top DTs and the importance of 3T in the scheme. What say you?

Lots of random thoughts on this. I don't think this is a very good edge class and I think it really falls off a cliff after the first round edges (Turner, Verse, Chop Robinson, Latu, and Darrius Robinson in whatever order). I think that's a far as you can get and still think you are drafting a guy who has a chance to start year one. After that, you are drafting a guy you think you can bring in on passing downs and move Walker inside at best, and I don't even like a lot of those guys in that role. I kind of like Isaac but he looks small to me. Booker is a young, pure developmental guy with "intriguing traits" that I might be willing to take a flier on in the 3rd but is pretty raw. I really like Brandon Dorlus, but my read on him is that he's pretty duplicative of Walker in that he's a bigger edge you can move inside at times, so maybe that doesn't make sense from a roster construction standpoint. By the same token, I really don't see a huge difference between a guy you could get at #9 and a guy you could get in the twenties, and they all have the high RAS scores that appeal to the Bears. Maybe the Bears have a guy they love and want to take if he's there at 9, and if so, fine, but my approach would be that if the top 3 WRs are gone at #9 and you are looking at edge, I would trade down, even into the late teens/early twenties, and just take whichever edge is highest on the board at that time and get some round 2/3 draft capital, because all those first round guys have positives and negatives but I could see any of them busting or balling out, so I would be fine to just see who's there and take them.

https://x.com/albertbreer/status/1775710141234475267?s=46&t=cLrE-3h2uw3rACxhQZYEvg Caleb was there today with a larger group including edge Dallas Turner and OT Tyler Guyton. Rome Odunze visits tomorrow.

I don’t get it. Haven’t has shown he can play and I don’t know why we would spend what bit would probably take to get Tannehill for a guy who hasn’t been super receptive to a mentor role in the past. https://www.nfl.com/news/ryan-tannehill-malik-willis-situation-spotlights-the-challenging-yet-vital-natur

Interesting story here about the Bears breaking into different groups to evaluate WR, OT, and Edge at #9. https://chicago.suntimes.com/bears/2024/03/28/bears-nfl-draft-who-pick-ninth-matt-eberflus-ryan-poles-wide-receiver-defensive-end-left-tackle-rome-odunze-joe-alt

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39815624/inside-keenan-allen-trade-chicago-bears-los-angeles-chargers Sounds like Allen wanted big money to stay with the Chargers. I doubt we see an extension before the season. Might need to revisit during the year or end of year. That also might cause the Bears to opt for WR at 9 knowing what it may cost to keep Allen beyond this year.

I have no real opinion on the character stuff - I think there’s plenty of evidence out there to support whatever conclusion you are predisposed to - but I have a hard time watching something like this highlight package and not come away thinking he’s a pretty special thrower. https://x.com/dwcprodz/status/1772009417367593396?s=46&t=cLrE-3h2uw3rACxhQZYEvg

Really surprised the Bears haven’t done anything at receiver besides adding Keenan Allen and Dante Pettis. Pettis should be no lock to make the team, and even if you count on adding a WR in the draft, your other WRs are Tyler Scott, Velus Jones, and Collin Johnson. Maybe they want to wait until after the draft to see who gets cut or what kind of WR they add in the draft, but this group could really use a DJ Chark/Josh Reynolds type IMO.

I read somewhere that Eberflus likes bigger DEs, so I wonder if Darius Robinson might be a target in a trade-down scenario as well.