AZ54

Poles is reportedly courting Juju Smith-Shuster. He couldn't find a good deal last year and ended up returning to Pitt on a 1yr $8mil deal. After an injury plagued season he'd likely bite on a similar AAV, maybe a bit more, with bonus over 4yrs. He can come in and be a 2 or 3 while a 4yr deal gives Poles time to find his guys and leaves room to re-sign Mooney when the time is right. I still would like to add DJ Chark for the deep threat but maybe we address that in the draft. https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2022/03/13/bears-interested-in-juju-smith-schuster-nfl-free-agency/

Neither totally unexpected.

Just a 5th more or less. https://www.nfl.com/news/browns-agree-to-trade-for-cowboys-wr-amari-cooper "The Cleveland Browns have agreed to acquire Cowboys wide receiver Amari Cooper in exchange for a 2022 fifth-round draft pick and a swap of 2022 sixth-rounders,"

I grab a highlight film of DeMarvin Leal and first play I'm wondering where he is while that LB is running down the field with the INT. At 290lbs he's a really good athlete and it shows while running with the ball. He's not bringing a lot of power but he is bringing the energy and we have nobody like him on the defensive interior. I like the pick. I've been playing around with mocks and it's easy to find two good WRs with 48 and 71.

If we were scouting him for this draft? He offers some versatility in the same way as Herbert. Why was he let go? Maybe he didn't have the work ethic to take care of his body that is needed to perform at an NFL level? https://www.si.com/nfl/titans/gm-report/tennessee-titans-roster-moves-nfl-darrynton-evans-released In two-injury plagued seasons, the 5-foot-10, 203-pounder out of Appalachian State never emerged as the dual threat/change-of-pace performer franchise officials hoped or expected. He got on the field for just six games – five as a rookie and one in 2021 – and went on injured reserve more often (three times) than he reached the end zone (once). The primary issue was a hamstring injury that first limited him during training camp as a rookie.

This is scary stuff for someone over 30 who is asking for a big contract: https://www.si.com/nfl/saints/news/terron-armstead-offseason-knee-surgery-report On the other hand, Armstead has never made it through a full season, with his highest participation being in 15 games from the 2019 season.

He gone...given all the other roster action this is as good as a done deal. https://bearswire.usatoday.com/2022/03/11/bears-expected-to-release-danny-trevathan-2022-season/

Took a shot at a mock at TDN with the new pick: 39: Olave WR 48: McCreary CB 71: Petit Frere: LT 147: Dohnovan West: C 149: Jack Sanborn: MLB 184: Zach Tom: OG I wasn't planning to go heavy Oline but the draft fell that way and I wasn't going to pass up Tom at 184. I think he'll go earlier than that on draft day.

In this scenario with the additional picks I think Robinson there is good value. If I made that pick I'd likely turn around and put Montgomery or Herbert on the trade block and see what I can get. That likely wouldn't be a trade until the season starts, or even mid-season to a contender but it avoids the 2nd contract issues. A trade also keeps us from having to wait another year for the potential comp pick. I'm not as high on Herbert as most seem to be because I think he still has some improvement to make between the tackles. I still like him on the roster. Until we get our passing game fixed we wouldn't be in the worst position splitting carries among Monty/Robinson for half a season with Herbert on special teams/backup role. Between the pick and cap space you improve the roster elsewhere in 2023 when Poles has a better fell for the existing talent, but admittedly it's a longer term view.

This is the awesome and the race in the AFC West is going to be fun to watch this season. Naturally teams already knew Poles was willing to deal but there's no doubt as soon as Wilson got traded the Chargers knew they had to do something just to ensure they could make the playoffs let alone win their division. I have to assume Quinn was also asked about in the negotiations and that price had to be at least a 1st Rd ++. 18.5 sacks for a mere $12.8mil in 2022, $13.9mil in 2023...that's worth a lot considering they are paying Joey Bosa $21mil for 10.5 sacks. Chargers are carrying a ton of money at EDGE Rusher but with Herbert on rookie deal why not? This, and the Wilson deal IMO are part of he effect of the Rams winning the Superbowl via their model of ignoring draft picks and just getting the best players to win it all however they can. It's a copy cat league. I never thought any team would pick up Mack's deal and give us a 2nd Rd pick so I stand corrected. Mock drafts are a heck of a lot more fun now. That cap space for next year .... Poles has a lot more flexibility for this year as he can easily sign a few players with little cap hit this year and put a bunch of money into 2023 on some contracts. I think there is much more good news headed our way.

JimmyG is not a FA and his cap hit is $26mil. I see the news about Colts being interested but why would Ballard make that trade when he can go get Foles a lot cheaper in both trade value and half the cap hit? I don't think there's a whole lot of difference between the two and you can use that extra money to continue to build your team while you wait on finding the right QB. Colts have plenty of cap space so that isn't necessarily a factor. It'll be interesting to see what he does.

Tannehill was always good at handing off he just looks better handing off to Derek Henry.

I thought Simmons looked horrible but we have to field enough players for training camp. I see no risk keeping him around to see if he fits the new offense better.

Between the two I’m choosing Foles. Performance on the field might be a wash but Foles still has better ability to read a defense which makes him the better choice to help a young QB.

He brought the Bears way with him when it comes to QBs.

This appears to be a bit of a win-now scenario with them keeping both Rodgers and Adams and then dealing with the impact of both deals in 2023 and beyond. There's no doubt they see the same WR depth in this draft and so they don't care much if they lose existing WRs. I would think they could replace Adams in Rd 1 and save cap room for other players who can block for kicks. Yet I get it, they only scored a Trubisky-esque 10pts in the playoff loss.

It’s late for now I’ll say Mike Rose would be a great fit. Might not be the most athletic but he’s an excellent football player. Fits the Kwitkoski mold.

Trading good players is a valid option but the players we have with any reasonable demand from another team just saw their value drop. There are many good edge rush options and interior DT. I can’t see any team not waiting until after the draft before trading for one of our players unless we were to put some money in the deal.

Zach Tom looked really good in the drills and I agree he’s a good option but he’s likely moving up some draft boards after his combine performance. He’s still a day 3 prospect but will he last until the 5th Rd or has he crept up into the 4th?

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/10024705-chiefs-rumors-ot-orlando-brown-to-receive-franchise-tag-ahead-of-deadline

My best case scenario is that we get two legitimate starters out of this draft. Preferably at Oline, WR, DB, LB. Depth players are always available in FA albeit more expensive than a rookie. With that, I'm hesitant to just trade back for the sake of adding picks and depth. I feel like our best trade scenarios are the less aggressive ones (i.e drop back 1-4 spots) where you absolutely know one of your top players is still on the board. That of course doesn't yield much in terms of additional picks but gives us a chance to add cheap developmental depth day 3. I don't think there is any scenario where I'd want to drop back out of the top 50. That feels like we drop way back expecting at least one of 5 targets will remain on the board but they won't be there because other teams had the same 5 targets. At 71 the grades usually flatten out and trading back here is less of a concern. OTOH this draft has some crazy good depth and there is likely a cliff somewhere in the 3rd RD grades.

Too many WR ran too fast for all of them to go in Rd 1. It's funny because it wasn't too long ago DK Metcalf ran a 4.33 and the draftniks went crazy over him and as raw as he was he went in Rd 1. Tomorrow the Edge rushers run the drills and there will be a lot of 1st Rd hype for many of them. At this point it's already clear there will be players with 1st Rd grades drafted well into the 2nd Rd. Players like Watson will still be behind them. The biggest weakness so far is the QBs but as always the demand is there so whenever they start moving late 1st early 2nd we'll see a bit of a run. That'll pushing some very good players toward 39. In an ideal world someone just behind us a few spots really covets someone and we can trade back just a few spots say Atlanta at 42. That's enough to get us a 4th Rd pick and still be confident a player we want is still there for us. After watching the Oline drills I'd be ecstatic if Trevor Penning fell to us but after today I can't see him lasting into the 2nd Rd. It's not just the raw numbers he moved well in all of the drills. He may need time but he has more than enough raw talent to be really good for a decade. Raimann looked really good too but his arm length is a bit of an issue. https://www.nfl.com/prospects/trevor-penning/32005045-4e36-8721-c716-03d03a853c33 There are several good interior options including Zion who looked good overall. Given how well he performed at C during the Senior Bowl week and what he said about enjoying making the protection calls and getting everyone aligned, plus his versatility along the interior he'd be really good pick for us. I still remember the Sean Payton philosophy about making sure the middle of the Oline was good because it meant the QB could always step up if needed to avoid edge rush. There are a few other options at C that looked good too including Zach Tom but I don't like the fact he skipped the bench as strength/power is a concern. Since we're apparently moving toward a zone blocking scheme his athleticism fits well. I see him as a possible 4th Rd pick. Beef Jurgens anyone? Athleticism through the roof, and a physical style of play that matches Jenkins, but after watching a bit of film it seems to me he doesn't know how to use his talent. He's just trying to push people around using his strength with little or poor technique. He's not ready to start or fans would be asking to bring Mustipher back, but he is a depth option on day 3 if the coaches think he can learn how to harness his ability. https://www.nfl.com/prospects/zach-tom/3200544f-4d13-1680-d84b-a813971a836d

Agreed bring in some competition for Newsome.

Keep an eye on this guy: https://thedraftnetwork.com/articles/zion-johnson-scheme-fit-nfl-combine-draft “I always say that if you don't love football, you're not going to go very far," said Johnson. "Because when you get in those hard moments, when you're tired, something’s not feeling right, you have to fall back on something. And if it's superficial, you're not going to be able to sustain that.”

After today's combine stats we will have no problem finding a fast WR if we want one early. It'll be interesting to see how this shakes up rankings but just based on their 40 times many WR are moving up. Players like Skyy Moore, Pierce, Watson all helped themselves today. Skyy was even getting some chatter about performing in drills like you'd expect of a 1st Rd pick. The last time I remember Steve Smith saying that about a WR was for a guy named Kupp. I don't think Skyy will rise that far but 2nd rd seems like a real possibility now. On the flipside, I like our new GMs approach where he has the draft board set before the combine and only small adjustments are made afterward within their bracket. Don't get too crazy on measurables in shorts. It has to show up on the field.