AZ54

Just like Devin Hester was at this point in his career, I think 5 years into a players career you know exactly what they are. Patterson is not a TE. He's not really a WR because his hands aren't that good. If he was a legit WR with his size and speed he'd be making a lot more than $5mil/yr. He's a gadget player who the defense still has to account for whenever he's on the field. Plus he is just good enough as a WR that you can't ignore him on deep routes. Wherever he goes he's taking someone with him or we gain a lot of yards.

It's been one preseason game and one training camp in the books, and Emanuel Hall already ejected. I see two players on the bubble that, barring injury I don't think they make the 53. Kwiatkoski looked slow while Kevin Pierre-Louis looked good. Maybe he was out of position on occasion but he stayed with plays and showed more ability to recover than Kwit. I think he makes the roster and we go with Smith, Trevathan, Iggy, and KPL. Braunecker. It's not so much that he's done anything wrong rather it's that Bunting showed he can threaten the deep middle of the field in a much better way. Knowing the injury issues Shaheen has and the fact they asked Sowell to slim down and compete with him it seems clear we'll keep both of them. That leaves a backup to Burton and this is where Braunecker doesn't fit ...something that was painfully obvious in the playoff game. Bunting looks like a much better fit backing up Burton.

He's fast and that was a speedy exit. Nagy says there was too much competition. I say for that much athletic talent to get cut this early he had to be lazy in meetings, study habits, or in the training room not rehabbing like he should. Or perhaps all 3. https://www.nbcsports.com/chicago/bears/practice-notes-another-fight-emanuel-hall-gets-cut-and-more-bears-first-practice-back-halas

I finally got to watch the entire first game. I think the one thing that stood out the most was how much better the young CBs Franklin III and Joseph played compared to last year. We may have some decent depth this year. Skrine and Shelley are both playing well. I didn't really catch Tolliver out there. If their good play continues, and if they look good on special teams, I won't be surprised if a team grabs one of them for the bottom of their 53-man roster. Further down the roster for us is Denmark who seems destined for the practice squad.

Some positive words for one rookie https://twitter.com/tomkavanaugh44/status/1160194003364720641

That hug he got from Nagy after scoring the TD spoke volumes about what Nagy thinks of him. That confirmed what Nagy wanted: When the defense is perfect, or the offense isn't perfect, Montgomery can still make something positive happen. https://twitter.com/BaldyNFL/status/1160264068290228224?s=09&

That TD run by Montgomery looked exactly like his college runs. He never looks fast (because he's not) yet players are struggling to get a hand on him. Even on his little screen pass up the right sideline he perfectly times and inside cut fake and then nets another 9-10yards before being pushed out of bounds.

I like it. Got a link?

Were you looking for this? https://www.cleveland.com/browns/2017/03/jon_gruden_believes_mitch_trub.html

Another Twitter feed from camp... https://twitter.com/jacksobleTLS/status/1158836875253231618

Interesting experiment here with Montgomery being the slow but quick cutting RB while Whyte is pure straight line speed. Last year it was Nall, who is not that fast, struggling making cuts. Reportedly he worked on his agility this offseason. As we get into preseason 3rd/4th strings I expect Whyte will make a similar big play impact as Nall did last year but again it might not be enough to make the 53. There are more observations at the link. From Dan DeYoung on Twitter...https://twitter.com/DanDeYoung80 More 3. I realized today that Kerrith Whyte Jr. really hasn't done anything that makes me think he deserves a roster spot. Ryan Nall has honestly looked much better so far. We will see when preseason starts if he turns it on. #bears

https://www.chicagobears.com/news/daniels-making-fairly-seamless-transition

Trubisky struggled a ton early in the year, especially in the Arizona game I attended. The improvement was obvious across the season and hopefully continues this year.

Add in the reports that Miller has really matured this season and is more focused on getting the details right and he'll be a tough matchup for any DB.

It is different but he's so quick he actually freezes the defender and gets inside him. Once you have the DB sitting back thinking you'll turn back into him, set that up for a few plays, then you add on a double move and go upfield. He'll be wide open up the sideline.

Sure. Nobody is able to block Mack one-on-one. Dline players are often in the backfield making plays. Yet still the Oline is blocking well enough for Trubisky to often throw TDs, for Montgomery, Cohen, and Davis to make some splash runs. To be fair your RBs are also making some occasional big plays in the passing game as well. It's early and against this defense it's hard to know.

It's a bit hard to tell given the distance of the camera angles but Pineiro appears to have slightly altered his kicking motion since coming to the Bears. He seems to be staying on his plant foot longer instead of putting all his momentum into the kicking leg. His competitor Fry appears to have better leg strength now after working with the Bears. Regardless both are kicking better than I expected and both appear to be NFL kickers. I credit the kicking coach Nagy hired.

Two years ago it was all about can he take a snap from under center. Last year it was all about him learning a new complex offense and from a bad first four games he found his way into the Pro Bowl as an alternate. This year he knows the offense much better and started out good in camp then faded a bit. I do know this...since HHCD has been back on the field Mitch hasn't played as well. I don't know which way to read that but it is interesting.

Just cover him. https://twitter.com/BearsBarroom/status/1157291769597501440?s=09&

Just tackle him. https://streamable.com/rukeq

Now that the pads are on there are a lot of good things being said about Montgomery. He pushed the pile into the endzone today, with his Oline joining in. He also ran some nice routes and made at least one over the shoulder catch displaying some natural hands for catching a football. It looks like Nagy got the chess piece he wanted this offseason. Really chess pieces because Davis has reportedly looked good as well. Helfrich not so hot about Trubisky, real positive about Montgomery. Plus "I don't think there's ever been a defense like this". https://www.chicagobears.com/video/helfrich-on-david-montgomery-he-s-a-perfectionist

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2848118-nfl-scouts-see-mitchell-trubisky-as-1-of-the-biggest-breakout-players-in-2019?share=twitter It's interesting to see this article coming on the heels of a few people at camp saying Trubisky is not playing well. I never know what to make of training camp. Last year Chiefs fans were nervous about Mahomes because he was throwing too many INTs in camp. He turned out ok but others, like Alex Smith, turn into a Checkdown Charlie. That can look good in camp until the real games show up and you can't stretch the defense well enough. To his credit Smith overcame those habits with the help of Matt Nagy. If you prefer to go solely off INTs then Trubisky has had a few rough days recently. What we don't know is if these are new plays, or new players in new roles he is trying to throw to and their timing is off. Or are his mechanics poor? It's training camp too so he'll throw the football regardless of coverage when in a real game he might just run with it. What we do know is that he's facing one of the top defenses in the NFL, if not the best, and their new DC is mixing up coverages and blitzes like crazy. To his credit Trubisky has made many "dime" throws for TDs and big plays against tight coverage. We're 6 days away from our first look.

FB Burton was let go this offseason. The fact we had someone fill a roster spot there last year means Nagy isn't totally opposed to it, and in any case Nall would be a part-timer there. I'm just saying if we see Nall do a little bit of work outside the RB position then to me that's an indication they are thinking about keeping him around. OTOH if Nall's a pure RB then maybe it's more likely we go with the top 3 RBs and perhaps we keep Whyte around for special teams. It's just that Patterson, who is a lock for the 53, makes that a redundant position. I just can't see keeping two KR specialists on the 53. We have Miller and Cohen who can fill in there as needed. In this scenario I think both Whyte and Nall end up on the practice squad.

That depends how we classify Patterson. Does he get the typical one spot reserved for special teams? Does McManis earn a spot at Safety? Are we keeping a FB this year? Technically no but who fills that spot on the 53? Nall, Patterson, McManis, Coward (we kept an extra olineman last year). Lots of possibilities at the bottom of the roster.

I think it's the other way around. Whyte has to learn a complex offense and he does not have the best hands. He can return kicks which is a plus but who will be better on kick coverage? I'd say if we start seeing Nall do a bit of FB, or even some H-Back work in place of Burton, then signs are moving in his direction.