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We will also have a battle between 11 and 12 personal. 11 having the edge if Loveland can't get into practice early. If Burden comes to OTAs and Camp and is blowing it up, Loveland and the 12 personal may take a back seat. Loveland needs to be ready to fight because if he played equally as well of the bat, maybe the bears run more 12.

I highly doubt it. Moore and Burden may get 15 each on average. We also also have Duvernay that should get a few. As a reference Sam Laporta has one career rushing attempt, so Loveland is probably out.

I'm glad they are leaving Wright alone. It's hard enough gelling an OL the way it is. It's such a luxury to have Thuney next to whoever plays LT. Another boost to the trenches is that they just hired Mark Philippi to the strength and conditioning team. He's a former, seven time, World's Strongest Man competitor. The fatties have someone to push the right buttons in the weight room.

This is going to be the hot topic all off-season and maybe into the season. Bears are starting it off correctly by keeping Darnell Wright at RT. That leaves us with a 3 way battle at LT. https://bearswire.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl/bears/2025/05/01/bears-ozzy-trapilo-will-play-left-tackle/83388491007/

I still have the vision of Ben Johnson in the draft room hearing about trading up for a RB and like a little boy at Christmas being excited for his new toy. Then being disappointed when it didn’t happen. Then the box opens up later and inside is “stud” Luther Burden.

good analysis - I think you've got it right.

It is possible that Moore, Burden, and Loveland will have over 50 combined carries this year. Deebo Samuel had a career high of 59 a few years ago and averages over 40 per season. Moore had 14 last year, I could see him having over 20-25 this year. If they get 50 carries from WR/TE, then adding another RB would not be as big of a need.

That could be the case. I did watch some videos this morning on Tripilo. He will need some work to fix some of his issues which I think we have a great coach to help him. His main issue is getting more fluid in his hips for run blocking. His 33 to 33-1/2 arms could become an issue in pass pro, but he has good slide with his feet and holds defenders well. I think in camp, Kiran and him rotate at LT until Jones returns. Wright is a last resort to shift and he may see a couple plays here and there at LT so he's ready for the last resort. The Bears need 10 good players on oline because as we see, guys get banged up. It will happen year in and year out. We have 4 guys capable of playing LT, 5 counting Thuney, so we should see our best line in decades for once.

I do think there are sometimes concerns with lineman being too tall for guard because of your center of gravity and how it plays into leverage inside, so that could be a hindrance conceptually for Trapilo inside.

Revisiting the schedule, now post-draft. Right off the bat, I will say the Bears split the division, but that could go plus or minus a win, so at worst 2-4, at best 4-2. Home DET - W GB - W MIN - W DAL - L (Really depends on which DAL team shows up, could go either way) NYG - W (Feels like an easy win) CLE - W (CLE has 5 QBs, and none are starter quality) PIT - W (Defense good, offense bad) NO - W (Feels like one of the easier games on the schedule) 7-1 at home Away DET - L GB - L MIN - L PHI - L (Super Bowl champs) WAS - W (should've beaten them with Flus) BAL - L (Tough matchup) CIN - W (Feels like a shootout in the making) SF - L (This game could go either way, give the edge to SF right now) LVR - W (Should be one of the easier road games) 3-6 on the road 10-7 record, with probably a +/-3, meaning 13-4 if EVERYTHING goes right, and 7-10 if everything goes wrong.

If you can believe what she said, they would have taken Banks ahead of Loveland, and that makes me feel a little better about them. Loveland is a great pick, and Johnson will be able to show his stuff with Burden and Loveland with Odunze and Moore. That's a lot to cover. She's also really articulate about how we played ourselves on our trade downs, and I especially liked the discussion about Trapilo and what it means to the OL. I really like TTNL and Courtney because they seem to look at things the same way i do a lot. Not always! I think Campbell is not as good as they do. And the GMs in the league agree with them and not me lol But yeah, the way Johnson was rocking back and forth, he clearly is tickled to have Loveland. Even if he was 4th on our list, he's still well worth the #10 pcik, and is gonna make a huge difference for this team. Pray that however the LT situation works out, it will actually work. If there is no hole on the OL, this offense could go far.

You could tell who Ben really wanted, but Poles wanted everyone on board with their decision, so Ben said he was on board with the RB and OTs. He knows they need oline, but deep down wanted his Laporta. The dude was crazy rocking in his chair that things fell his way. I like Courtney and agree with what she picks up. She reads between the lines.

OK there's just too much good information here. I'm just gonna share it. If you watch it, do yourself a favor and start at 48:00 (48 minutes in) to avoid all the nonsense, and whatever. Courtney talking about the Bears draft starts at 48 min

So Courtney Cronin tonight on TTNL saying a bunch of things with authority in her voice. SHe usually says things like "could be" etc but these things she was definitive about. She said she spoke to Jeff King after the first round pick had been taken, and he said the Bears had several players highly targeted for the #10 pick. She later said the Bears definitely wanted Campbell AND Banks, and after the Jaguar trade, the price was too high to go up for Jeanty. She said she didnt know who the Bears had been calling, but it definitely wasn't the Browns. So this is specific information, instead of rumor or opinion, and she has always been credible as far as I know. She doesnt make guesses presented as facts. Could someone have lied to her? For sure. But I believe this is what she heard, and it makes sense. So it seems the order was Jeanty, Campbell & Banks then Loveland. I'm still watching and she literally just said "If Banks had been there at #10 he would have been the pick" I can still see why Johnson was shaking with excitement. Like many of us here, maybe we felt like we should be disciplined and do the right thing, take the LT, but when a shiny toy at TE who's NFL comp happens to be Sam LaPorta is available, its exciting to be able to get that guy. I personally felt the same way about Jeanty. I knew we should take the LT if possible, but my irresponsible heart wanted to see Jeanty in a Bears uniform and think about Payton, Sayers and Willie Galimore, who is why my jersey here is 28. Should I add Neal Anderson to that list? A lot of people dont know about Willie the Wisp.

Tripilo has 33" arms, so he may end up there if he can't handle the outside. Nothing wrong with it. Thuney getting extended is not a given so they draft two guys who could play there if needed.

Good times for sure. If they are gonna move people around, this is a good year to do it. Roushar will hopefully have the right answers and help guys with their roles whatever they are. I like the idea of depth at OG, but Im not sure thats a 2nd round pick, so I expect Trapilo to be in the serious competition at one of the tackles, along with Wright, Jones and Amagadje. Hopefully we can find two good starters from those four, and have the right skills sets playing the LT and RT spots.

I think when a GM calls around to multiple teams, and doesn't make a deal with them, those other teams talk too, and the info gets out. And like you say, calling and pulling the trigger are two different things. From the coaching hire, we know Poles is the type to fully investigate all kinds of scenarios that wont actually happen. So he might be an active GM in calling to figure out prices for trades up and down all the time. To Stinger's point, even if he was doing the due diligence Im talking about it doesnt mean that he was serious about consummating the trade, and it doesn't mean it would have been a HB if he had traded anyway. But as sports fans, we can read tea leaves and make guesses. It certainly doesnt prove anything either way; that he is fine with or not fine with Swift. But we can guess.

None of which means he didn't inquire about moving up. I fully expect him, and every other GM, to be doing that throughout the draft to assess trades values up or down as the process plays out. As far as I know teams won't disclose who they are picking until agreement is reached on value. Since it's a fact we didn't reach an agreement with any team on a trade up I find it suspicious anyone would know who we were thinking about trading up for...unless the leak is from inside the house!

Same. Hopefully he exceeds his projection at tackle. Braxton is clearly on the hot seat. My expectation is that Braxton won't go down without a fight. These are good times...

Ozzie Trapilo might make a great guard if Thuney is too expensive. He was looked at as the most ready in the draft to play right away at OT, so I expect him to compete there first. I want to see the Bears keep drafting oline until they can have a starting unit with all their guys they have drafted.

Matt Miller had Luther Burden as the favorite pick of the entire draft. Loveland was his 7th. Pretty cool. He had Burden as his top WR and Loveland as his top TE. Here were his write-ups: Burden was my top wide receiver in the class (I'm counting Travis Hunter as a two-way player), and he landed in a great situation with the Bears and new coach Ben Johnson. Burden's yards-after-catch ability is terrific, and Johnson's scheme has been elite at creating space for wide receivers. Burden likely starts as a slot receiver with DJ Moore and Rome Odunze flanking him, but he thrived in that alignment at Missouri. I had Loveland as my No. 1 tight end, and apparently the Bears agreed; they made him the top tight end drafted. His ability in the passing game -- he runs routes like a receiver and has the speed to separate from linebackers and safeties -- makes Loveland an easy comparison to Sam LaPorta, whom Bears coach Ben Johnson had great success with in Detroit. Value, need and scheme fit all match with this pick.

I agree. And it is possible that with Roushar's tutoring, Braxton Jones will be good. The Saints had a guy, was it Armsted? Anyway he had similar issues to Jones' and Roushar made him an all-pro, so if that's what happens, I'll be thrilled of course. But then I wonder why the 2nd round OT pick? No doubt tho your point remains - whoever is playing LT is going to be better with Thuney next to him.

Youre right of course. And if that's the standard of evidence around here that's fine by me, but we have to play by it equally I think the fact that we traded down right after each HB got taken in front of us is pretty good evidence, but it's circumstantial I agree, not proof.

Also, on the LT front, it's worth noting that instead of starting Jake Curhan, Doug Kramer or (when healthy) Teven Jenkins/Ryan Bates at LG, we are starting All-Pro Joe Thuney. Having that level of player next to you at LG and being able to trust that he's going to do his job and help you with your job should take a little bit more off the plate of the LT than we have had in recent years. Not saying that LT isn't still crucially important, but an offensive line works best as a unit where players trust each other, and I'm cautiously optimistic to say that after years of not having that, we might actually be at that point now.

I think they would have kept him if DA wanted him.