dawhizz

Keenan Allen should show up at the LSU and North Carolina pro days too just to F with people.

It’s behind a paywall, but Brad Biggs has a piece in the Tribune about the Bears’ Caleb visit this week. They met with Caleb along with some of his teammates on Monday at a local restaurant to see how he interacted with them and then spent half a day Tuesday with him at the football facility watching film, talking football, and having him do whiteboard work to see how he processes and thinks.

Interesting that Chase Young is having neck surgery this week which scared a lot of teams away from signing him.

Keenan Allen just showed up to Caleb’s pro day with his Bears gear on. https://x.com/bradbiggs/status/1770491479804518865?s=46&t=cLrE-3h2uw3rACxhQZYEvg

I see MHJ isn’t even working out for scouts at his pro day. I assume he gets the “princess” tag too?

That’s not what he said. He said when watches Mahomes, he thinks that there nothing Mahomes does that he can’t do. Which is, I think understandable and kind of aspirational - recognizing that you have the skill set to succeed if you harness it in the same way someone else did. https://sports.yahoo.com/caleb-williams-says-theres-nothing-224405806.html

I like Verse a little more than Turner, but like both. Chop’s lack of production scares me, as do Latu’s medical history. Adisa Isaac is a guy I like in the 2/3 range, but edge seems to drop off quite a bit after the 1st, imo.

Watched a little of Daniels. Definitely got a great arm. Not a fan of the hits he takes when he runs. Seems like his receivers are consistently very open, which might just be scheme, but that plus the skill level of the receivers gives him som room for error, which, to his credit, he consistently takes advantage of. I also hav to say Brian Thomas is really impressive to me - he look like if George Pickens could get separation. If Nabors wasn’t on his team (and he had a more exciting name) he might be right with the top WRs in this class.

Totally valid question, but NFL draft evaluations tend to take into account skill/measurables of the players over straight stars, and I think it’s pretty clear from a measurable standpoint who had the better WRs (not that that’s everything).

Jayden Daniels is basically where Caleb was at this time last year - Herman trophy winner, most productive QB in college, golden boy, etc. Then Caleb came back, college teams developed their schemes against him, he started playing a little too loose (though his O-line did not help) and now he’s getting picked apart. I get that. Who knows if the same things would happen if Daniels came back for another year? One years wonders sometime work out and sometimes don’t. If you’re comparing them, it’s also worth noting that Daniels is throwing to two first round picks while Caleb’s top two receivers look to be Day 3 picks.

Just looked at this, and after all the wheeling and dealing, the Bears have a pretty strong amount of draft capital for next year - all their picks except their 7th, plus Carolina's 2nd, Miami's 6th, and the pick from Pittsburgh that's either a 6th or (possibly) a 4th. What's even more interesting is that the Bears have very few starters who are free agents next year - besides Keenan Allan, their only other free agent starter is Teven Jenkins, unless Coleman Shelton wins the C job or you count Khari Blasingame. Really, there aren't even many depth FAs of note - Khalil Herbert is no longer the starter and has Roschon Johnson probably pushing him on the roster. Larry Borom might not make the team. Jack Sanborn is an RFA and pretty replaceable (or cheap to resign). With that all in mind, and the Bears with only four picks, I wonder, if the Bears don't trade down from #9, once we get into the second half of the 2nd round will Poles doesn't start think about trading a future pick or two to grab someone knowing this roster doesn't have a ton of holes and looks ready to compete now, even with a rookie QB? Something to keep in mind.

If I was going to pick my own no trades draft (and I’m assuming Nabors and Odunze are likely gone), I would go: 1a) Caleb 1b) Verse 3) Brenden Rice (was Caleb’s safety valve in college and one of the most predictive WRs on 3rd and 4th down) 4) Either someone with C/G flexibility (Bortolini/Limmer) or potential 3T DT (Wingo/Harris/Hall)

I got either: My Draft Picks 1. Caleb WilliamsQB USC 9. Malik NabersWR LSU 75. Marshawn KneelandEDGE Western Michigan 122. Tanor Bortolini OC OR My Draft Picks 1. Caleb WilliamsQB USC 9. Dallas TurnerEDGE Alabama 75. Ricky PearsallWR Florida 122. Mekhi WingoDT

Drake Maye: -Threw nearly twice as many interceptions as Caleb this year. -Lead a team that arguably fell apart even more than USC, losing four of their last six games. Only one of their opponents was ranked at the time (NC State was #22). Meanwhile, USC lost five of their last six that Caleb started, including against #21 Notre Dame, #14 Utah, #5 Washington, and #6 Oregon. -Skipped out on his bowl game (like Caleb). -Skipped out of combine workouts (like Caleb). Besides your interpretation of why Caleb's top 30 visit was moved and his father (which Caleb has no control over and it bears noting that Kliff Kingsbury said he saw Caleb's father maybe once while at USC), what makes Caleb a princess but not Drake? Is it really just the nails thing?

I mean, it could have been as simple as an offer of a 5th instead of a 6th that could be a 4th, in which case, why not roll the dice?

Interesting note here that, reportedly, there was another offer with stronger draft capital. I doubt it was significantly stronger, n but that makes me wonder if maybe it was an NFC or maybe even NFC North team (Lions?) and Poles preferred to send him to the AFC. https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/39747405/nfl-justin-fields-steelers-bears-trade-russell-wilson

How exactly did Caleb blow the Bears off? I’m genuinely wondering, as I have not been analyzing the minutiae of Caleb like some, but the only thing I can think of was the top 30 visit, which seemed to be pretty mutual as far as rescheduling due to the travel involved. https://www.si.com/nfl/2024/03/04/combine-takeaways-bears-plan-williams-draft-quarterback-fields

Yeah, with WR and DE both big needs the intrigue at #9 for me is (1) do you take Nabors or Odunze if they’re there, (2) if they’re gone, is there a DE you like enough not to trade down. As I think more, I also could see DT depth being a bigger priority than C if we don’t address it t early. You have three guys who can play there currently (Bates, Shelton, Kramer) and really only three quality DTs (Dexter, Billings, Pickens) although maybe Walker kicking inside sometimes helps with depth.

I don’t know, I feel like even without a trade down, Poles could pretty effectively address the current holes in the roster in the draft. The holes, as I see them, are QB, DE, WR3, and G/C depth. So you could just go: 1a. QB 1b. DE 3. WR (should be some good guys still available in this class: Wilson, Burton, Legette, Walker, even Brenden Rice who would be nice to pair with Caleb) 4. C (can still get a decent developmental C here like Nourzad, Limmer, maybe Van Pran) Feels like the roster is in pretty good shape after that.

Let the level-headed, rational takes commence. https://x.com/rapsheet/status/1769131145688461483?s=46&t=cLrE-3h2uw3rACxhQZYEvg for 2025 6th rounder that becomes a 4th rounder if Fields plays over 51% of snaps (comparable to the Mac Jones trade compensation with a caveat, essentially). So no additional draft compensation for this year. Seems like a deal done to help Fields get some clarity on his future now.

Where does your impression that his “teammates apparently didn’t like him” come from? Besides one guy who said “we’re a team now” after the bowl win (which can be taken a number of ways) I haven’t seen one indication that his teammates didn’t like him. Just curious on your source there, I’d like to see what they had to say.

Yes, definitely some random Twitter account knows the Bears draft board when not one single Bears move has been leaked this offseason.

That last “bad QB draft” where teams talked themselves into there being starters was 2022 and let’s see how that worked out: 1 (20) Kenny Pickett - Traded 3 (74) Desmond Ridder - Traded 3 (86) Malik Willis - Titans QB3 3 (94) Matt Corral - Birmingham Stallions (UFL) 4 (137) Bailey Zappe - Patriots QB2 5 (144) Sam Howell - Traded

The only thing that doesn't fit is that it's looking like a bad year for QBs in the draft next year. Unless you think Dak or Trevor Lawrence are going to be free agents, or someone unexpected balls out in college, what is the solution at QB if Fields isn't it? Draft picks are great, but if no one will trade you a franchise QB, and the draft isn't great at QB, what do you do?

If there’s one thing this offseason proved once and for all, it’s that there is no such thing as a “Bears insider”. With the exception of the Jaylon extension which Poles straight up said he was working on, not a single one of the Bears moves have leaked before it happened. We should all keep that in mind going forward.