Free Agency Grades

[adam]

1. Ha Ha Clinton-Dix - (A-). There are so many layers to this as it ends up essentially being a trade that will give the Bears HHCD and more than likely a comp pick while Packers get Amos and the Redskins 4th rounder. The more I watch HHCD, the more I see why the Bears went after him. I don't know if you can get a better Safety for that price ($3.5M). I outlined most of that in the other thread, and there is the added bonus and motivation of playing alongside his buddy in Jackson. Also, HHCD is only 4 months older than Amos and has never missed a game in his career.

2. Cordarrelle Patterson - (B+). Not much more you can do here. Add one of the best returners to a weak Special Teams unit and a versatile player that adds to Nagy's lab. It will be exciting to see how they use him. Patterson is 28, so he still has tread on those tires. What does a defense do with Patterson, Cohen, and Gabriel are out there at the same time. You throw in Robinson and someone like Davis or Burton, and it seems like there will be some formations that will be indefensible. Mitch is going to need to know where to go with the ball.

3. Mike Davis - (B). An above average runner and receiver who is elusive with soft hands. Hard to not like this move. He rarely goes down on first contact. His DVOA was 11th best in the league (net positive), while Howard was 36th (net negative).  You can see that here: https://www.footballoutsiders.com/stats/rb

4. Ted Larsen - (C). Older vet who has experience with the team. Depth move, replaces Kush. Such a low contract, very little risk here if he doesn't pan out, it is easy to cut him.

5. Marvin Hall - (C). Another bottom of the roster pickup who may not even make the 53-man. Pace starting to throw some darts, but with Gabriel, Patterson, and Cohen, it is hard to see where Hall would get touches outside of some ST play.

6. Buster Skrine - (D+). Of all the picks, this one has me the most concerned. There is enough tape on Skrine to know who he is, yet the team went against the consensus to believe Skrine was worthy of a contract. Skrine has one of the worst passer ratings against for a CB in the NFL and has been a perennial on this list. Hopefully, the Bears defense will make him better and Skrine will outperform his career averages. Otherwise, he will be targeted a lot.

Grades = (Fit, price, upgrade)

Overall - I would give this current free agency period a solid B at this point. Pace replaced Amos and Callahan, our two biggest starters, and added some versatile pieces in Patterson and Davis. We still have some minor depth needs at Edge, TE, and Special Teams still needs to be addressed. Obviously, the kicking situation needs to be worked out. I am glad that Pace did not hand out any huge deals, the combined total of all those FA's cap hits for 2019 is around $15M, that's pretty sweet. He also has something else up his sleeve with all the other contract mods where he has created over $18M in cap space. So even with the rookie pool, there is space to add a few more pieces or one big signing.

[Stinger226]

Pagano has a more aggressive approach to the defense,  Skrine is a more physical player that may be a little better at blitzing. The bottom line is Callahan didn't take their offer so they moved on.

[adam]

21 hours ago, Stinger226 said:

Pagano has a more aggressive approach to the defense,  Skrine is a more physical player that may be a little better at blitzing. The bottom line is Callahan didn't take their offer so they moved on.

I got it, I understand the theory, but Skrine just hasn't really produced anywhere he went. It could be that he played on bad teams, but good players normally stand out on bad teams and he didn't do that anywhere he played. I don't know how much more aggressive Pagano will be than Bowles or Cleveland when Skrine was there, but no matter how he was used, he was near the bottom of the league in every category for a CB.  He had one above average year, his last in Cleveland, then signed a big deal (for that time) with NY. 

If he plays well, Pace will look like a genius, but if he is the same guy he has been for the last 8 years, this will be a head scratcher for sure. Also, he turns 30 next month, a few months before Prince. So we will have 2 of our top 3 CB's over 30. To me it seems like drafting a CB early is almost a guarantee.

Someone had a great description of him, a more athletic Amukamara with worse technique.

[Stinger226]

He is here on basically a one year deal, and when your up against a cap, you can't always get first choice.  I think his durability is a huge part of the signing.  A C player for 16 weeks , or a B player for 10? Also its funny how everyone praises Amos mainly because of the PFF ratings and I noticed they gave a better grade to HaHa for last year. We may have our replacements already here in Tolliver and Joseph.  They just may need another year of seasoning.