dawhizz

I will add to this that this is essentially exactly what the Chiefs did when Poles was there and they drafted Mahomes - had Alex Smith coming off a successful season but drafted a QB top ten.

I’m starting to think keeping Fields AND drafting a QB #1 isn’t the craziest option. You get one more year if Fields on a cheap(ish) contract. You get a year to develop/evaluate a stud QB who will still have tremendous value a year from now if Fields balls out.

https://x.com/byryanwood/status/1744187277549453491?s=46&t=cLrE-3h2uw3rACxhQZYEvg

Yes, I mean coaches and QB. There’s some good bones on this team but I don’t see the coaching or QB needed to be any more than minimally competitive.

If Poles really wants the Bears to be great, and have a chance to win a Super Bowl sometime in the near future, you have to clean house.

1. I appreciate that his players seem to like him and going through a lot of weird stuff this year, but also can't deny that Flus' decisions has lost games this year. Maybe he's getting better. But I can't forget that the Bears lost three games where they had a lead in the fourth quarter and he's a defensive guy. I'm not sold. 2. I think Getsy has the most riding on the Packers game. He's had some of his own head-scratching decisions from a play calling standpoint. He needs to prove he believes in the offense, and Fields, to make his case to stay. 3. The question Poles needs to answer is: Is it more important to me to be competitive or to win a Super Bowl? I think Fields gives you the best chance to be competitive in the short term and going forward. I think Williams/Maye, if you get the pick right and believe in the player from a skill and a mental standpoint, gives you best chance to eventually win a Super Bowl.

I know this is considered a particularly strong QB draft, but looking at the last ten years if top 3 picks at Qb does not fill me with confidence: Bortles, Winston, Mariota, Goff, Wentz, Mayfield, Darnold, Murray, Burrow, Lawrence, Wilson, Lance, Young, Stroud Whose career do you want over Fields? Burrow and Stroud? Maybe Lawrence? That’s not inspiring.

You probably want to make sure you get at least one future 1st and probably two in any trade down, just in case Fields falters next year and you need ammunition to get a QB. I doubt this is very realistic, but here’s what I did in one of the mock draft simulator sites with a bunch of trades: Marvin Harrison Jr. WR Ohio State 17. Laiatu Latu EDGE UCLA 20. Kamren Kinchens S Miami (FL) 39. Sedrick Van Pran OC Georgia 66. Leonard Taylor DT Miami (FL) 76. Michael Penix Jr. QB Washington 101. Ben Sinnott TE Kansas State 107. T.J. Tampa CB Iowa State 138. Sataoa Laumea OT Utah 147. MarShawn Lloyd RB USC 152. Christian Mahogany OG Boston College 2025 ARI 1st 2025 TB 1st

I have to say, on top of all the other terrible things about his season, the one thing we all wanted was an answer to the question “Is Fields the guy?” and I think it’s pretty clear whatever your individual answer to that question is, we don’t have a definitive answer. And that’s on the coaches IMO. I fascinated to see what the Bears end up doing at QB at the end of the year and am convinced whatever they do will end up being wrong.

Bad teams should not be buyers at the trade deadline. Didn’t we just do this with Claypool? It would be hard for this to end up being a worse trade, but just sign a good DE during the off season (like we should have done last season), keep the pick, and stay bad this year.

https://bearswire.usatoday.com/lists/chicago-bears-otas-day-2-takeaways-justin-fields-dj-moore-tremaine-edmunds-jaylon-johnson/

Looks like picks 6-10 have all signed, but none of the top ten. https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/2023-nfl-draft-first-round-picks-contract-tracker-bears-latest-team-to-sign-top-rookie-full-list-of-signings/

Very cool behind the scenes stuff on the draft here. I know there’s also a video up on NFL+ interviewing Pokes about the draft process, but I don’t have NFL+ - maybe someone who dies can summarize?

Outstanding.

Currently of the players in red or blue above it would be Bell and Williamson (who I’m pretty confident I can retain on the PS at this point) and Leatherwood (who has had his shot and doesn’t seem to be a league average guy).

I know Bell is apparently a great guy and all, and I saw where Corey Wooten speculated he might be more ready to play right away than Dexter or Pickens (which is . . . a take) and I’m certainly willing to see how he performs in preseason, but I have a real hard time believing the Bears are in serious jeopardy of losing Bell from their practice squad considering he’s a 6’1” DT who never had outstanding production, never even made first team in the Big South, and was a 7th round pick that was pegged as a UDFA by pretty much every draft expert I’m aware of.

Need to add Terell Smith, who I think makes the team over Jaylon Jones. Bump Bell to the PS for an Edge and probably Williamson too for a better 3rd safety.

Sounds like he was called by a handful of teams but the Bears expressed the most interest and started calling him during Round 6. https://www.insidenova.com/sports/the-chicago-bears-showed-the-most-interest-in-forest-park-graduate-thyrick-pitts-jr/article_043ede30-e9ad-11ed-89b8-63d26d1e8207.html

https://www.chicagobears.com/news/poles-offers-behind-the-scenes-look-at-draft-2023

There are two interesting aspects to a lot of our draft picks that I'm just starting to pick up on. Not sure how intentional they were. One is relative inexperience at their position, which (theoretically) means room for growth with good coaching. Dexter didn't start playing football until halfway through high school. Roschon Johnson came to Texas as a QB and became a RB based on injuries (you can see his inexperience watching him play - he seems to do a lot of dancing behind the line like you would expect from an option QB and I think he'll be much more effective when he better learns to hit the hole and go). Tyler Scott was a high school running back. All those guys were pretty effective in their own right but it feels like there is room for improvement beyond maybe even comparably rated players. The other is players who were maybe not put in a situation last year that showcased their abilities. Zacch Pickens seems like he was asked to do more gap-control last year but seems better suited to a scheme where he is attacking upfield, which might account for his low sack totals. Noah Sewell had 114 tackles and was considered a top LB a year ago, then the defense switched to a new, more complex system and his tackles and production plummeted. You could even argue that had Darnell Wright stayed at LT, he would have been a more attractive draftee - all indications are he performed well last year at LT and only switched because of the skill set of the new guys coming into Tennessee. If he had stayed at LT and performed at or near what he did at RT (not a sure thing but within the realm of possibility) he would have had more consecutive starts at LT than either Broderick Jones or Paris Johnson.

I'll try to be as honest as possible and regardless of where these guys ended up going based on what I think I would have done: 10) Broderick Jones, OT, Georgia - Wright is the better RT right but if you're spending a top ten pick on an OT, I would have taken the guy who projects as a potential better LT but can still be an upgrade right now at RT. 53) Tuli Tuipulotu, DE, USC - Given the run on DEs, I would have snagged my last potential impact guy (who ended up going right after this pick). 56) Adetomiwa Adebawore, DT, Northwestern - He ended up going much later than most expected. I would have certainly taken him here (though I would have strongly considered Darnell Washington too, not knowing about his injury concerns). 64) Clark Phillips, CB, Utah - A guy I really liked going into the draft who also seemed to slide quite a bit. This would put him in the slot and Gordon on the outside (whereas the Stevenson pick likely puts him outside and Gordon in the slot). 115) AT Perry, WR, Wake Forest - Another guy who went much later than I figured. I would have strongly considered him in the third and definitely would have taken him here. 133) Luke Wypler, C, Ohio State - Ended up going in the 6th but I would have gladly taken him here to compete at C or at least backup at G. 148) Antonio Johnson, S, Texas A&M - Another guy who wasn't really on my radar but I would have taken here to be the 3rd safety. 165) Cory Trice, CB, Purdue - Another guy I liked going into the draft that apparently other teams didn't, but he's got great size and skill for press coverage. 218) Andre Carter, Edge, Army - Went undrafted but the Bears need pass rushing and he's worth developing (and hearing his name called). 258) Sean Tucker, RB, Syracuse - I have my pick of guys I like at the end of the draft at RB but he edges out Keaton Mitchell and Xazavien Valladay. I'll have to remember to come back to this thread in three years to see how I did . . .

I have to admit, while I have no problem with the pick, I don’t really see it with Roschon as a starter. I don’t know how many starters in todays NFL run a 4.58 40 but I’m guessing not a ton. I certainly appreciate all the things he can do and I think he will be a very useful back, but I think you are going to end up with a guy who can get you chunks of yards but doesn’t really break big runs, which is something we saw with Monty. I see him as our best goal line option, but I don’t think he’s as elusive as, say, Nick Chubb. He’s more Rhamondre Stevenson (or, dare I say, Jordan Howard) I think, which is a fine player and quasi-starter, but I think Foremsn and even Herbert have more big play ability.

Or maybe you use Roschon or Homer, two good pass protection backs who can catch the ball, as the 5th WR, maybe even closer to the line of scrimmage, so they can act like WRs or block as needed.

I heard that Monday is the day that you can start signing free agents without having it affect your compensatory picks. I feel like we aren’t getting any anyway because of the guys we’ve signed, but maybe we see some activity then or after rookie minicamp.