All Activity

Yeah that is true, Raymond does replace Duvernay on Punt Returns (I should've added that to Duvernay's comment) but based on offensive snap counts, Raymond was closer to Oz than Duvernay on offense, and Duvernay was more of a Core Special Teamer than Raymond was outside of Punt Return duties. Between Raymond and <insert new WR> will fill all the roles of Oz and Duvernay.

Yeah, they can nail it if they can get a playmaker at Edge, DT, and Safety in this draft with 3 out of the 4 top picks.

Positional value vs cap hit. Safety and Off-ball LB are cheaper in free agency than other position groups. So you can get quality for a cheaper total cost. Edge, WR, OT, and CB are the worst positions to spend on in free agency. Could be a coincidence, but I would like to think it is part of the plan.

Duvernay as returner was replaced by Raymond even though you had Raymond listed as OZ replacement. Two birds with one stone approach.

This was the strategy I was hoping for. I’m not surprised they spent big on Safety but signing Bush at LB was not something I was expecting. Signing 2 good defensive players for the price of one mediocre DE is a win, or maybe even less than one mediocre DE. I also think Poles upgraded WR3/4 with Raymond over OZ.

Comparing the Bears roster to the rest of the league by position group, they only have 5 players in the top 10 at their position in terms of AAV, Thuney, Jonah Jackson, Kmet, Odeyingbo (as Edge2), and Gordon (as Slot CB). Technically, Gordon is the highest-paid Bears player in relation to the rest of the NFL as the 2nd highest paid Slot CB. Odeyingbo is the next as the 3rd highest Edge2, then Thuney at 7, Jackson and Kmet at 8. Gordon's is the only deal that will be that high for another few years. Odeyingbo will be gone next year, and all the rest will slide out of the top 10 with other players getting new deals. My assumption is Darnell Wright will get added to the top 10 in the next year, but Dexter or Stevenson are not getting extensions, so the next group is Williams and Odunze after that, but that won't be for at least another year or two. OFFENSE: QB - 20th RB - 18th WR - None in top 32 <insert eyeballs> TE - T-8th LT - 26th LG - 7th OC - T-15th RG - 8th RT - 22nd DEFENSE: EDGE - 14th, T-25th (Edge2 - 3rd) DT - 23rd, 50th (DT2 - 18th) LB - T-17th, T-17th CB - 12th, 23rd (Slot CB - 2nd) S - 13th Outside of Gordon and Slot CB, the Bears have not committed a significantly higher percentage of cap to one position than the rest of the league. In reality, the roster is pretty well balanced.

The draft seems deep with our needs as well. It will take developing, so expect some time but it should pay off years down the road. If we traded for Crosby, we would have had to rework more contracts pushing the expense in critical years to keep our best home grown talent.

And you dont get stuck with under performers like we tend to do. Im excited to see a healthier Jarrett and Dayo redeem themselves. Not that I expect sacks from Dayo, but great run D and edge containment

All Social Media is a cesspool of hate. Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter all say the same thing. They wanted the Bears to sign Linderbaum and Hendrickson, and anything less would've been a failure. In reality, signing free agents from the lower cap hit positional groups is smarter money. You get more bang for your buck that way.

I don't mind that the Bears are being modest with their free agent acquisitions this year. They were one play from the NFCC, had a ton of injuries, and most of their offseason losses (snap-wise) were on the defensive side of the ball, where they need upgrades anyway. Also, just like every other year, there have been some outrageous deals going out. Jaelan Phillips led all free agents with $30M AAV and had 2 sacks in 8 games for PHI. Pierce resigned with the Colts but still got $28.5M, which is crazy high for a WR2. Hendrickson got $28M and Lindenbaum got $27M. Rarely do signings like that work out in the long run. Of the 15 teams that signed a new player with a higher AAV than Bryant, (CAR, BAL, LVR, WAS, MIA, TEN, CIN, LAR, NE, CLE, NO, BUF, KC, SF, and NYG), only 4, BUF, SF, NE, and LAR had a winning record last year. BUF signed Chubb, SF signed Evans, LAR signed Watson, and NE signed Doubs and Vera-Tucker. None of those are earth-shattering moves. So I like the Bears approach so far. Safety was a gaping hole, and the filled one spot with an upgrade. Cutting Edmunds created another hole that was filled by Bush. Those are good moves and what I feel are low risk compared to moves in the past.

Yet all the Twitter bots are screaming about the Bears lack of FA signings, the Bears being broke....yatta, yatta, yatta. The Bears have done well given they were over the cap a month ago.

We got faster at every position you listed.

So the BLUF is, there really aren't huge holes to fill. This team was one play away from the NFCC, and has been adding team speed on defense to make it less reliant on the takeaway. Safety seems like the only spot that they would be drafting to fill a hole. The rest can be BPA focused on DT and Edge.

With the unexpected retirement of Dalman, the Bears lost 5 of their top 9 players in snap count, and 6 out of the top 11. Those 6 were all starters. Then they also lost what I would call 4 key contributors, players with a significant number of snaps. Here is a quick rundown of the losses and gains so far and how I think they will address them: ADD/SUB LIST STARTERS: 1. C Drew Dalman (1154+15) >>> C Garrett Bradbury. On paper, a downgrade, but it may actually be a pass pro upgrade and run block downgrade) 2. S Jaquan Brisker (1072+90) >>> With the biggest contract put into Bryant, I assume they draft a Safety in the first 3 rounds and sign a vet or two to league minimum deals to compete. 3. S Kevin Byard (1071+1) >>> S Coby Bryant, biggest FA acquisition, is an all-around upgrade as Bryant is more versatile than Byard and Brisker. 4. CB Nahshon Wright (1041+18) >>> (Stevenson, Smith, Frazier) This hole will be filled from within. That's why they have Al Harris. 5. WR DJ Moore (979+2) >>> (Odunze+200, Burden+400, Walker+100) Odunze missed a lot of time, Burden didn't get going until late, and Walker probably gets more snaps to fill these snaps. If Burden gets the bulk of these snaps and targets, the offense will be more efficient. If anything, they bring in a vet minimum guy, which there are a ton (Josh Reynolds - played with Johnson, Gabe Davis, Zay Jones, etc.) 6. LB Tremaine Edmunds (813+11) >>> LB Devin Bush. Clear upgrade, Edmunds played small, Bush plays big and fast. Teams won't be able to get those easy 5 yards per carry anymore as Bush fills the hole much quicker and can recover better than Edmunds. Edmunds was like a tall tackling dummy. ---------------------------------------------------- KEY CONTRIBUTORS: 7. DT Andrew Billings (511+72) >>> DT Neville Gallimore. Billings was terrible in 2025; almost anyone will be an upgrade here. 8. WR Olamide Zacchaeus (580+2) >>> WR Kalif Raymond. Raymond's familiarity with Johnson's offense and top-notch PR ability make this a really nice depth signing. 9. CB Nick McCloud (436+143) >>> CB Cam Lewis. Just like Billings, anyone replacing McCloud will be an upgrade, besides Kindle Vildor. 10. DB Chauncey Gardner-Johnson (565+10) >>> (Gordon, Lewis). I think Gordon and Lewis take most of these snaps. They will still add a vet min guy too. ---------------------------------------------------- OTHERS: 11. TE Durham Smythe (293+230) >>> 12. DE Dominique Robinson (215+161) >>> 13. S Jonathan Owens (47+264) >>> 14. WR/KR Devin Duvernay (40+209) >>> 15. DT Chris Williams (219+20) >>> DL Kentavious Street

I had so many great thoughts that I couldn't post lol.

question: the thread Free Agency News is only a half page wide with some other stuff on the other half. this seems like the only one to do this. is there a way to make the replies full page wide? i liked the old layout better too as some have said. too much text under each thread topic and small text headline. that said thanks for getting this back on.

Dark mode is outstanding. Please don’t lose that.

I appreciate all of it. It looks fine, it'd just be better if the topics on the main page had a bigger font, that's pretty much the only "problem" - but even if nothing changes, thank you for keeping it going.

All that said - I’ll see what alternate themes exist once I start to learn the back end better.

I come here on a laptop, but if it's better for phones, then good! Thanks very much for keeping the site alive.

Unfortunately this is the new style the software company went with. There are different color options available on the bottom, but this version was designed from bottom up to optimize mobile interfaces and usage and increase speed. Still getting used to it but I like the cleaner navigation from my phone. Haven’t yet tried the iPad / Laptop. Also it has a brand new dark mode that was redesigned all the way around.

I like it. Dark Mode (at least in DuckDuckGo Browser) is much easier on my eyes. For whatever reason it wouldn’t display that way beforehand.

I’m not thoroughly searching across the internet but it does appear that rankings for Centers are quite varied depending on the site you visit. Slaughter who I usually see as a top 3 Center is ranked 9th on NFL.com and doesn’t even have a starters draft grade. Meanwhile Draftbuzz shows him as the best OC prospect this year. Maybe the guy from Iowa is a better fit or we take a chance on the recovery of Conner Lew? https://www.nfl.com/draft/tracker/prospects/c/all-colleges/all-statuses/2026?page=1 https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Logan-Jones-DL-Iowa https://www.nfldraftbuzz.com/Player/Connor-Lew-OL-Auburn

I agree. Sewell stinks - maybe special teams at best. Hyppo couldn’t even get on the field. I know he had some injuries but if he doesn’t flash this offseason I think he’s at risk of getting cut. Edward’s is solid but that injury will further slow him down and speed was never his strength - feels like a spot they add a player in the draft.

Sewell and Hyppollite suck. The linebackers are super talented this year. I'd lay money we draft one.