Bearstalk

Last year we were the top rushing defense in the league, tied leading the league in interceptions with 22. Other areas we were not very strong. When Sweat got here things started to change. The worst pass rush in the league got better. We lost Justin Jones ( a good player) and Eddie Jackson who IMO didnt contribute anything to the defense. What's different? We will have Sweat for the whole year. He upgraded the play of everyone around him. Kevin Byard is a better player than Jackson. 28 career intceptions in 8 years. A much better tackler than Eddie. They both are the same age and Byard is statiscally better in every area. Young players make there …

We have been talking around this for awhile, but the Bears finished 7-11 and had 3 terrible losses that they shouldn't have had. The team has improved from last year and has the last place schedule. Those factors all point to at least 2-3 more wins this year. Then I saw a tweet from OTC linking one of their articles. In this article, OTC was explaining how they were valuing future draft picks based on previous trade values. However, one interesting table got my attention that wasn't related to the subject of the article. It basically breaks down teams by last year's record, then the average increase or decrease in wins based on their draft picks. Typically worse team…

Looking back at free agency and the draft we have seen so many moves. What do you love and what would you have done differently? D'Andre Swift=love Jaylon=love Brett Rypien= ok Matt Pryor=ok Gerald Everett=good Kevin Byard=good Jonathan Owens= ok Ogbingbemiga=ok Coleman Shelton=ok Scales=ok Draft: Williams=love Odunze=love Kiran=impressed Taylor=hate. (Would have much rather had Cade Stover or Van Pran Booker=ok, but he's going to him or bust Trades: Keenan=love. Just what Caleb needs Bates: 3X hate. Could have signed better without losing a fifth round pick. Van Pran wit…

Passed at 70. Spent ten years with the Bears, getting us to the playoffs in 1977. Played his entire career with Sweetness.

So apparently the Bengals are calling asking about Khalil Herbert in trade. They need a RB, having just lost Dixon. At the same time, Trey Hendrickson, their best edge rusher has asked for a trade. He had 17.5 sacks last year and has two years remaining on his deal. Hmmmm.

Wow, I cannot believe he got to #9. Penix going at #8 was the trigger. Hard to pass up at that pick.

A trade for an early 5th rounder. They got their guy who some expected to go at #122, at #144 so depending on the trade value, it seems like a great pick. It cost next year's 4th. So assuming they are a fringe playoff team, that pick is in the 120s for 144.

I just read an interesting article on si.com stating there has been misinformation about CW's fumbling issues. We've been talking about his 30+ fumbles in three years of college. According to the quote below (I assume it is correct), he really hasn't had nearly as much a problem holding onto the ball as the good old internet pundits have cried. I will have to check it out. But if true, one less thing to worry about.

With the draft picks locked in for 2024, here is the before and after by position: Offense: QB - [Fields > Williams*] RB - [Foreman > Swift*] WR - [Mooney > Allen*] / [St. Brown > Odunze*] / [Taylor > Pettis] TE - [Tonyan > Everett*] IOL - [Patrick > Shelton*] / [Whitehair > Bates*] / [Feeney > Curhan*] / [X > Amegadjie] Defense: DE - [Green > Martin*] / [Ngakoue > Booker*] LB - [Cole > Ogbongbemiga*] DB - [Blackwell > Owens*] FS - [Jackson > Byard*] P - [Gill > Taylor*] Holes remaining: DT - [Jones > X] TE - [Lewis > X] It seems like Poles literally took ever…

NFC North Skill Groups (1QB, 2RB, 2TE, 3WR): CHI - Williams / Swift, Herbert / Kmet, Everett / Moore, Allen, Odunze DET - Goff / Gibbs, Montgomery / LaPorta, Wright / St. Brown, Williams, Raymond MIN - McCarthy / Jones, Chandler / Hockenson, Oliver / Jefferson, Addison, Powell GB - Love / Jacobs, Lloyd / Musgrave, Kraft / Watson, Dobbs, Reed - Rookies in Red - Meh players in Blue The Bears have the best WR Corps, Everett is the best TE2 of the bunch, making the TE Room competitive with DET and MIN. DET has the best RB Room but CHI and GB are close behind. Adding Odunze really puts the Bears offense over the top. Roschon would be ahead of Chandler on…

Makes sense.

Found this on the net. Correct me if anything is wrong. BEARS 2025 DRAFT PICKS First-round pick Second-round pick Second-round pick (via Panthers) Third-round pick 4th gone for 2024 5th rounder Fifth-round pick Sixth-round pick Sixth-round pick (via Dolphins) Sixth-round pick (via Steelers, can turn into fourth-round pick)

The Bears went from Fields, Foreman, Mooney, St. Brown, Tonyan, Whitehair, and Patrick to Williams, Swift, Allen, Odunze, Everett, Bates, and Shelton in one offseason. It is hard to see this not being a top 12 offense. According to DVOA, the Bears had the 22nd best offense last year. 10 spots seems like a huge leap, but when you improve in every position group, 10 spots seems possible. If the team went 7-11 with 3 terrible losses, 10 wins seems like the floor as they should've had 10 last season. Playing the last place schedule, there are not many dominant teams on their schedule.

With $3.1M cap savings and the drafting of Amegajie, Borom seems like the odd man out. Gaining over $3M in cap space would put the Bears back in the top 10 for cap space (currently 12th) which would allow them to bring in another DT and DE with room to spare. Other roster casualties from my perspective are: Robinson, Gill, and possibly Homer and/or Velus. The last two will be ST dependent.

Potentially the last pick for the Bears in this draft. Will be an upgrade over Gill but seems like a luxury pick when you had your choice of Edge or Center.

I think pressure will be on Poles and Flus to win in the third year of a rebuild. What puts us in the best situation to win now? I think it's a 98% chance Williams is our first pick. He has the highest floor and highest ceiling IMO. Not to say some of QBs won't be successful. I think the next most unknown QB prospect is McCarthy. He played on a team that won with the running game and defense which doesn't allow his stats to look great. I think he's the unknown QB in the draft. Harbaugh thinks he's the best QB in the draft. I think if we trade down he would be what Poles would do it for. IMO They all have some questions but that is what I think Poles options are …

We used to do a mock draft where people were GMs of different teams and we drafted in order, day by day, leading up to the draft. We don't have enough members to do that properly, but an easy alternative is doing a top 15 Mock Draft. I can consolidate the selections and produce a TalkBears consensus mock draft. Thoughts?

Braxton Jones safe?

We are 5 days away from getting the best QB prospect we have ever had since Sid Luckman. I am pinning this thread for Thursday's discussion.

I feel like this draft is going to be the most impactful draft since Payton and or the Butkus Sayers draft. The difference is the Bears' teams back then sucked. The Bears are adding to a 7-win team that lost 3 games they should not have, and now added two top 10 players. Comparing Odunze to guys like JSN and Olave, I actually prefer Odunze over those guys. He is going to learn so much from Moore and Allen. Bookmark this thread and come back next January when the Bears are playing in the playoffs.