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Im not arguing about anything, I am giving my opinion. I trust that Roushar, BJ and Poles will know what they see, of which we havent seen yet. As you said I am assuming they will be at least average but its the same situation as last year, it has questions. How did it turn out last year? If they thought there was going to be a problem, they would have brought in an old overpaid vet to play there.

I know he isnt but based on last years performance I still think he is the floor. I agree that isnt the common wisdom right now, just my opinion. Its possible that we would have to move Thuney to LT. We do have options are OG. Again, not predicting it, but i know its one of the doomsday scenarios?

Benedict isnt even taking snaps at LT. This is down to Jones, Wills,and Armagadjie. Ive heard good reports on all 3. I know they are not all-pro players but we will get the best of the 3 to hold the position until Trapilo can compete. The best part is Thuney has pull on this.

I hope so. I tend to think Benedet is the floor. I dont trust Braxton or Wills until I see it with my own eyes. I can understand the logic that we will get the best out of guys because of Roushar and the coaching, but i dont really know what the best of Braxton or Wills is? Or Amagadje? Obviously I havent had private views of these guys during the offseason, so our staff knows more than we do, but I still think we have a hole at OT, and that Benedet is the floor. Maybe Wills will revitalize and shock me - it's possible - but i have no real reason to bet on that? So I think it's Benedet or even Decker. Id love to be wrong about this.

I will say having Roushar and Ben Johnson here, the guys we have now will not be the same as if Eberflus was HC. The guys we have are capable. They may need extra coaching, help w chips, and schemes, but they will not be as awful as Justin Fields or 1st year CW running for their lives or on their back every snap.

but youre assuming one of them will be better than average? I could take 5o people with crutches, race them, and the fastest one still isnt going to win any track and field events? Youre kinda arguing that if you have more guys, and a good eye that creates a good player, and Im just saying that doesnt make any sense to me.

I haven't been on X but another body can't hurt.

I'm referring to the competition between them and the winner will be fine. Last year, we had a lot of questions with LT and it didn't hurt us. We aren't adding anyone at this point so we get what we get and I trust them to know what they see.

After the Bears lost Bryant to injury, I looked at OTC to see if there were any Safeties available that were at least serviceable. The only name I came up with was Xavier Woods, and the Bears just signed him.

I dont understand this logic at all. You can only play one of them at a time, they dont add together into one super player.

I dont go to training camps anymore but several people keep mentioning Kaden Davis. Can he upgrade Scotty Miller or Walker with him at WR?

They clearly are rotating all of the LT group to get a look at all of them. Someone here already mentioned that, a coach stated that in an interview. They are doing the same thing they did last year. A second round pick sounds like they did address the LT position and was looking good until his injury. They only have so many 1st round picks Caleb, Rome, Wright, Loveland and Thieneman. Looking back, they have added enough talent to question Rome but that's hindsight. The DL has been a position of neglect but they have been putting offense first in trying to build around Caleb. We won 12 games last year with the roster building that Ryan has done. He has made many mistakes but he hired BJ and drafted Caleb and has a direction with this team of which I believe is headed for a SB run, next year or if fortunate, this year. Every team has some questions except, IMO, the Rams. I do see the depth getting better going forward. We had been a top 5 rated OL last year by a couple of different websites. Kiran, Braxton, Willis and (RT?) Theo gives us enough talent to get the job done with Ozzy still in the future. I trust the brass running the team enough to fix the spots that look weak to be okay.

I used to think there were organizational trends, but every time there is a new GM or HC, it changes the equation. So Poles+Johnson is different than Poles+Eberflus, which is completely unrelated to Pace+Nagy. In reality, you would have to follow the GM or HC to find the real trends. Also, how much development is really occurring? Almost every good player in the league is highly drafted, and even then, some are not evaluated properly. A great example is Maxx Crosby. He was not only drafted in the 4th round, but was the 2nd DE taken by OAK that year. Clelin Ferrell was not only taken before Crosby, he was drafted 4th overall. Yet somehow, on the same team, same staff, etc, Ferrell flops and Crosby rises. OAK actually got it wrong, and if development had a measurable impact, Ferrell would be an All-Pro. Ultimately, it comes down to the individual player's motivation and desire to be great. The margins are so small at the top that at a certain point it is just effort and drive.

yep

Speaking of LT, Braxton tweaked his ankle twice in 1 on 1 drills facing Booker. He left practice early and Kiran replaced him. Also DB Owen's carted off field with lower body injury and DB Dallas Flowers left practice. DBs are getting dangerously thin.

It is not really a good thing, but since the guy we decided on last season was more a RT and is out for at least half the season and we are now leaning on a guy we were letting walk in FA because he couldn't hold a block against the bull rush, I want one of the 3 guys we have in camp to excel. Having them fight for their livelihood will bring the best one forward. As of today, Kiran is looking like the odd man out. All I am asking is for the Bears to test him again to see if he responds because they are not keeping him on the 53 if he doesn't. I don't enjoy throwing away expensive things I've invested in without trying to fix it with multiple angles of pursuit. If I was wealthy, then save me my time and worries and scrap it, but I am not. Two positions the Bears have not drafted and developed into greats for 40 some years is LT and DE. Two positions that need deep draft evaluations every year and to use the pick if a guy is there until you have a great.

He should three years of pent up frustration to fuel him. If that's not enough, he's not enough.

I dunno if having a lot of options at LT is necessarily a good thing? I mean it's better than having no options of course, but dont you want one player to just take the job by outplaying everyone else? If you have 3 similar LTs, it probably means you have no LT? Looking forward to seeing them with pads on hitting people!

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.