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I like having multiple LT guys who can step in. They been giving Jones more time with the 1s, so they are telling who is leading. I would like to see them give Kiran another day. He needs work and confidence, never really had much of a shot being hurt all these years, so would love to find value in his draft capital spent. Whether we can trade him or move him inside as a backup.

A week into this camp and some things are becoming clear. LT: Jones is clearly in the lead. There have been plenty of reports that he’s playing stronger and that’s a good thing. However, there hasn't really been any outstanding praise either. Coaches say stuff like “Braxton is doing exactly what we expected of him”. Well I don’t know what you expected of him so is that praising him or just saying he’s doing what he’s always done? Theo is not in the competition at this point. I think he’s being groomed primarily as the backup swing tackle. Kiran nobody talks about except when they realize they forgot to mention his name. He’ll be cut. That leaves Jedrick Wills as the player clearly in the 2nd spot behind Jones. Today Clay Harbor singled him out as having oustanding movement skills and power that shows up well in the padded practices (i.e. his 1st Rd talent is there). Wills obviously has the most to learn about the offense but coaches already have him ahead of Theo who got a lot of reps there last year. Also by keeping Theo as backup RT for now means more meaningful snaps at LT for Wills. Which is a way of saying they want to give Wills every opportunity to win the starting job if he can. If Wills, or even Jones, comes along quickly and shows clear starter potential then the Bears might have an odd problem on their hands. How many OL do you keep? If Theo is good enough to be your swing OT and you have a mending Ozzy available mid-season, do you keep Jones and Wills around? That’s a bit of luxury considering we need DB depth on the roster. This calculus includes the 3 TEs who can all help the LT, whoever that is, with inline blocking. Could we end up trading Jones or Wills before the season starts, or perhaps they let it playout further and trade mid-season? C: Bradbury is the same as expected… I’d love to see more from Logan Jones but it’s early. It’s a key position for Caleb and I don’t think any changes happen here until it’s the athletic upside offers more than the mental drop off. RT: I watch more press conferences or even podcasts with players. I’ve seen Darnell Wright over the years since we drafted him and he’s always come across as a bit of a shy guy, maybe a bit insecure. His press conference after signing the new contract was a totally different guy. I’ve never seen him speak with that level of maturity, clarity of thought, and purpose. I’m very curious to see what confident Darnell Wright looks like on the field. DTs: With pads on we’re learning that Grady Jarrett looks quick. There’s no splash play highlights but you can pick almost any beat reporter and they all say he’s moving much better than he was in camp at this time last year. Dexter looks more powerful per Clay Harbor. Perhaps, as Mongo wished, he’s being asked to be what he is, bulk up, and just take on the double team role. Harbor also said Gallimore, Street, and Van den Berg are all showing up well since the pads came on and that perhaps our Dline depth will be better than expected. Offense: It’s becoming more clear there is talent everywhere. Can’t wait to see them in Week 1. LB: TJ Edwards … just caught a short clip of him running some basic drills but he looks lighter on his feet and quicker. We weren’t the only ones listening to Poles, Johnson, Allen et al talk about the need to add more speed at LB. Being quicker doesn’t mean he’s faster top speed but he should stick with receivers on their breaks better, at least in the short area. DE: Still a concern but Booker looks to be earning the starting job across from Sweat. Dayo is moving inside often for pass rush. If Dayo is DE3 (not too exciting), then Turner is DE4 and we’ve yet to see him.

Other than that one Lions game , the last few years all the interdivision games were close, could have went either way. Our offense this year will put pressure on the rest of the league, its been tuned up, and given jet fuel.

Chalk this up to letting the season play out. I believe our offense will be better than theirs and vice versa on D. These games should come down to a few made or missed plays.(Refs especially included). Stats didn't lie on that one...

I agree about Hafley. Felt he had that D setup well for three quarters in each game.

Yikes. I thought $25mil/yr

In just fast brush strokes, building on what Adam said: Montez Sweat $21M Joe Thuney $16.5M Jaylon Johnson $16M Dayo Odeyingbo $15M Grady Jarrett $13.5M TJ Edwards $8.5M Cole Kmet $8.5M Kyler Gordon $13M that's about $112M right there. Of course Im not expecting us to cut Thuney next year, and others may argue for players like Sweat or Kmet to stay. So Im not suggesting every one of those guys are gone next year. But for example, if one of our depth OGs starts to play well, we might look at starting him, because Thuney isnt going to play forever. For example. I think what we can take from that is that we have a lot of cap flexibility. Especially on the D Line. We are also one of the only teams to have NO void year contracts, so there is flexibility there, if you use it wisely. All in all, next year I think we will see an overhaul of the defensive line, and across the entire defense too. Looking at you JJ. We are in great shape.

Wright already had his 5th year option for $19M next year, so is this for 2028-2031? If it overwrites next year, he already had $19M on the table, so this would only increase it by $10M. Either way there is a lot of ways to make space for next season, and in reality, they really need the space in 2028 (for Caleb) and by then 7 of the current top 9 contracts will be UFA, minus Wright and Bryant. Spotrac has a good multi-year view: https://www.spotrac.com/nfl/chicago-bears/yearly Pre-June 1st cuts: Odeyingbo - $15M cap savings Jarrett - $12.7M cap savings Gordon - $8.3M cap savings (if he doesn't play at least 15 games) $36M between these 3 guys.

I thought I heard we had $ 7-8M next year before roster adjustments were made. They had to do some creative accounting to give Wright this contract. I hope I'm wrong. I like your figure better.

We have (had) $100M in cap space next year, and we will need to revamp the D line with that. $29M goes to Wright, Caleb will probably get around $60M sometime during the year next year or in the next offseason. Replacing JJ, Kmet, Kyler Gordon will all open up another $20M or $30M so I think we are good for a minute. We're also one of the only NFL teams with no void year contracts, so we have all that playroom too if or when necessary? I do think we might have to make a tough choice between Odunze and Burden in the next few years, but we seem to have an eye for WRs and DBs so im sure the pipeline will be full. I think Ryan Poles is mediocre in a lot of ways, but one of his biggest strengths has been to be disciplined about the cap, so i doubt we will get into cap hell, and with Ben Johnson's eye for talent in the draft and free agency, I think we will be able to keep a bunch of fresh new faces coming up that will turn out to be good players with not too many busts. All in all, i think we are in a great position for the next few years, even with Caleb getting paid. And hopefully, he takes a page from his idol and mentor Tom Brady, and leaves about $10M a year on the table off of the most extreme contracts he could get, so he can afford someone to catch the balls he throws. Darnell Wright is a great player, and on his way to being a monster. Our coaching staff is excellent developing players. Damn its a good time to be a Bears fan.

It's gonna get nerve racking. We'll have Caleb, Rome, Kyle, Ozzy, Jahday, Booker and Luther come up for contracts around the same time.

You beat me to it, LOL. They definitely went all in. bearswire.usatoday had an article giving all of the details. WOW! I'm curious how it breaks down as far as cap hits. We have an even bigger contract to negotiate with Caleb after this year.

https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49531184/sources-darnell-wright-agrees-4-year-116m-deal-bears Very deserving - now I hope we see Wright elevate his game to a whole new level and show that he is the best RT in the game!

Lots of run install today, 12 and 13 personnel, and it seems to have really messed up the rhythm of the offense. Van den Berg with the first pancake of camp taking Barnett to the ground.

thanks and yes, probably the most important part of the FFB season is getting your pre-draft rankings in shape.

Dont forget we signed an UDFA Skylar Thomas that can play safety and NB. He is not fast but has short area quickness, probably can add depth to NB. We signed him to a 3 yr contract, not all UDFAs got those. 6'1" 210.

I was feeling better about the news since Dr Odunze said he would be okay, but 8 weeks or so is gonna hurt. No wonder why Kyler is watching from the sidelines.

Thanks, Paid. Now to get ready for the draft.

Week 5 against the Packers is 9 weeks 6 days away, with recovery and ramp up, I assume that is another 2 weeks. So if he is on the low side of 8 weeks, he has a chance to play in Week 5. If it is the high end, more like Week 7 against the Patriots. Either way, if there was ever a stretch to miss, this is probably it: Panthers, Vikings, Eagles (no AJ Brown), Jets, Packers, Falcons, Patriots (now have AJ Brown). It would be sweet to get him back for the Packers game as that is the only one where I would be concerned about the defense up until that game.

I think Lewis will back-up but they got to try and pickup a vet or go to the trade well. Or do we see Stevenson or someone else swing to safety?

Went out of practice on a non-contact injury doing 1:1 with Kmet. Out 8-10 weeks (so will likely miss 1st 5 games of the season (maybe more). Hyer-extended knee, bruise and small bone break. Lucky this wasn't worse but still a huge loss. Get better soon Coby!

https://www.leaguesafe.com/join/4449746/talkbears-keeper-2026

Hicks is still out, so it was Lewis today. We need to pick up a FA safety. Need better depth.

Adam Schefter said it will be two months, hyperextension knee, bone bruise and bone fracture. probably the pup for the first 6 weeks and then hopefully he's back. Who is his backup? Cam Lewis or Elijah Hicks?

bearswire.usatoday said he was extremely upset, slamming his helmet to the ground, when he was unable to walk off the field and had to be carted off. Odunze and Loveland claimed, when asked, that he'd be okay, but that is what you'd expect.