Bearstalk

Here's a couple videos with some good thoughts about our running game with Braxton Jones and Darnell Wright. Glynn Morgan explains how pulling either OT could make it really hard to stop our run game. If he's right in Week 1 GB could be in for a surprise. I like Schmitz's analysis on Braxton Jones and since he covers his run blocking you can see how he was utilized last year. The assumption is we'll now be doing the same type of plays from left or right.

I've only been able to watch 5min of this but already I think it's so good it deserves it's own thread. This is a drive from a game last year as his prep for doing this each week post-game.

Rookies and QBs are in the house with the rest of the team joining them on Tue. https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2023/07/22/bears-rookies-quarterbacks-report-to-training-camp-2023/

The gift that keeps on giving. I thought a 2nd rounder was steep for a WR3, but at the time, not knowing they would be able to get Moore, I understood it. However, now after a good chunk of the season, an entire offseason, and now he lands on the PUP for the start of the real offseason training camp. Not a good trend. With the addition of guys like Moore, Tonyan, and even Scott, and possibly some increased PT for Velus, Claypool is going to be the odd man out. Only so many targets to go around. It seems like the pecking order is Moore, Mooney, Kmet, Tonyan, RB1, Scott, then Velus or Claypool. By the time you get to the 5th player, that is about 5 targets a game.

Why is this relevant to the Bears? Herbert signed after his 3rd year, so the Chargers didn't take advantage of his 5th year option. After this year (his 4th), his salary will go from a $8.4M cap hit to approximately $29M in 2024. If the Bears were to consider the same plan for Fields, that would be next offseason, and his big salary would kick in a year earlier than expected. That scares me. Also, I am surprised Herbert got that big of a deal. He was 18th in DVOA, 11th in QBR, and 12th in QB Rating. The only stat he was top 5 in was yards (which really don't matter unless you score). Even with 4739 yards, he still only had a 6.8 Y/A. If you took the name off an…

After the Kmet extension, $3.6M got applied to the 2023 cap, bringing the Bears cap space down to $28.4M, still the highest available cap in the NFL. The next 4 teams are the Cards with $25.9M, Jets with $23.6M, Panthers with $20.6M, and Cowboys with $19.6M. So only 2 teams over $25M and 4 over $20M left. The Bears could take on a vet for a $7.5M cap hit this year and still have the 3rd biggest cap. Poles has the Bears in a great position as they can still spend and save some to rollover for next year.

I know Pace is gone, but it is interesting that he was relentlessly hounded for the Trubisky flop (rightfully so), but then also criticized for Fields as well; while during those two drafts, Lynch drafted Solomon Thomas, then traded up for Trey Lance, who now looks to go into his 3rd season as QB3 behind Brock Purdy and Sam Darnold. If SF drafts Mahomes in 2017 or even Watson for that matter, they probably win the SB in 2019 and have a good shot of making it back in 2021 and 2022. These are Lynch's 1st round picks since 2017: 2017 - 3rd Overall - Solomon Thomas 2018 - 9th Overall - Mike McGlinchey (no longer on team) 2019 - 2nd Overall - Nick Bosa 2…

Between last year and now , Poles has changed the offense to be capable of high end production. Adding DJ is easily the biggest move and I rate restructuring of the OL second. I think ever spot on the oline has been upgraded. I expect Jones to be better. Jenkins is an upgrade over Whitehair that didn't have a good year. Whitehair is easily a huge step up from Mustifer. Davis is a top 10 RG in the league. Wright, as a rookie, will be better than Reif last year. WR room: Moore, Mooney, Claypool, V Jones, Tyler Scott , Pettis, ESB. How are the targets going to be distributed ? Ideally Moore has close to 100 catches, Mooney and Claypool both reach 60 catches each, S…

Looking at the current roster, it seems like the top 46 players are set unless something extreme happens. That leaves 7 slots open. Using last year's 53-man roster position composition, here are the battle spots, 3 on offense, 4 on defense: On offense, it looks like the last WR spot is still up for grabs and is ESBs' to lose. By adding Moore, the WR room was knocked down a slot, which makes Pettis and Webster likely cut candidates. 6 WR? Can only have one of the following 6 players: WR6 (ESB vs Pettis vs Webster vs Ford vs Fountain vs Reed) TE3 still seems totally up for grabs. Will they go the H-Back route and Tonges or try for a more traditional 3rd TE?…

https://athlonsports.com/nfl/mike-greenberg-justin-fields-superstar-quarterback He’s a fan.

Did I see he signed?!?!?!!?

At the start of Free Agency, NFL.com listed their top 100 FAs. After the Yannick signing, here is what Poles did (w/ 2023 Cap hits): 27. Tremaine Edmunds ($14.6M) 34. Yannick Ngakoue ($10.5M) 44. Nate Davis (6.9M) 59. TJ Edwards ($5M) 89. Robert Tonyan ($2.6M) Also signed Demarcus Walker ($6.4M), D'onta Foreman ($2M), Andrew Billings ($2.7M), Travis Homer ($1.7M), Rasheem Green ($2.4M), Dylan Cole ($1M), and Terrell Lewis ($1M) who all should contribute. That's 12 players for $56M. Drafted: Darnell Wright, Tyrique Stevenson, Gervon Dexter, Zacch Pickens, Tyler Scott, Roschon Johnson, Terrell Smith, and Kendall Williamson. Then acquired DJ Moore…

This may not sound like a big deal, but TE was an issue last year after Kmet, and the Bears needed 3 on the 53-man roster. This really upgrades TE3 from the likes of Chase Allen and Jake Tonges to Marcedes Lewis.

Here is my best 53-man guesstimate as of 8/5. Getting DL down to 9 is going to be tough. Blue/Bold is the Special Teamers. The Bears lost key ST contributors in DHC, J. Thomas, S. Weatherford, M. Adams, R. Griffin, and look like they will be losing Ebner's, and maybe even Jaylon Jones' ST snap share. 2 QB Fields, Justin 21/1 Walker, PJ U/CAR - This seems like a lock, a 3rd QB would be a waste. 4 RB Herbert, Khalil 21/6 Foreman, D'Onta U/CAR Johnson, Roschon 23/4 (ST) - replaces Ebner Homer, Travis U/SEA (ST) - replaces Griffin - I don't see more than 4, Ebner odd man out here. 1 FB - Blasingame, Khari U/TEN (ST) 3 TE …

To whom it may concern. I quit with cable or Direct TV several yrs ago. I just have the internet and an antenna . I do a couple streaming services. The only NFL games I dont get are on ESPN. Last yr I subscribed to NFL+. It was 40 a year and I got every primetime games, and access to non area games on all devices but not TV. This yr NFL+ premium for 80 a yr allows you to watch the NFL network, The RedZone and access to all games being played on all devices plus TV. Can watch all games in reruns and access to all 22 narrative games. I use to pay 140 a month, now my TV and internet with a couple streaming services is 60 a month. 80 for the yr seems like a good deal for me…

It's game day. I would like to see Fields and the offensive starters play at least 2 series and hopefully score on at least one. I want to see Fields getting the ball out quick with timing. Main players I will be watching besides Fields: Wright and Claypool on offense. The entire D-Line and Gordon on defense. The media is going to be so polarizing after this one. If Fields looks good as a passer, look out MVP. If he looks bad, he is a bust. There is no in between.

So most stats are meaningless. Most of the preseason stats leaders never amount to anything in the league. However, I tried to see if there were any trends from players that Fields has been comp'd to in terms of career progression (Year 3 leap, gets true WR1, etc). This is what I found, it might be completely irrelevant, but interesting nonetheless: Preseason Comp% J. Allen - 54.5%, 64.3%, 76.9% (Diggs), 100% L. Jackson - 50%, 62.5%, 75% J. Hurts - 42.9%, 100% (Brown) T. Tagovailoa - 70.6%, 80% (Hill) J. Fields - 61.2%, 76.7%, 100% (Moore) Everyone of these QBs improved their comp% YoY in their first few years. One other note, Fields had a be…

The more I look into this, the more I believe Fields is going to easily throw for more than 3500 yards. We are just so tainted by the last two years that we can't see past those. Trubisky averaged 208 yds/g for the Bears. Even in just a 16 game season, he averaged 3328 yds per season. That includes his rookie year where they barely let him pass. Trubisky threw for 3223 yds in 2018 (in 14 games), that was 230 Y/G, which would be 3910 for 17 games. So who did Mitch have to throw to? These were his top 7 targets (ARob, Gabriel, Cohen, Burton, Miller, Howard, and Josh Bellamy)! The leader in receiving yardage was ARob with 754! I forgot how bad that offense was beca…

I guess the reports are that he strained both of his calves, which I've never heard of, but they are saying 4 to 6 weeks recovery, which means he could miss 3 or 4 weeks of regular season. The question will be who replaces him. There's Leatherwood or Carter on the depth chart, recent free agent signing Logan Steinberg. Eislen, Patrick and Borom too. And the Bears could claim someone off of waivers during the cuts too. But there is another option too. They did it last year. Whitehair to LG and Patrick, Kramer, Eislen or a waiver claim at Center. I wouldn't be shocked if this is the way it goes. I think the main decision makers on this will be Carter and…