AZ54

I'm old school and I love the special teams aspect of football. It provides some of the most exciting plays each year whether it is kickoff and punt returns, to even FG at the closing seconds of the game. Fans are fixated on these moments. Even a missed extra point these days, since they moved it back to the 15yd line, can change the emotions of the game. How many here remember the FG block in the Bears - Packers game after Walter Payton passed away? If you are not familiar with him, Rick Gosselin does some outstanding analysis and reporting on the game. Summary of Bears players on the list: http://www.chicagobears.com/news/article-1/Sayers-Hester-among-all-time-special-teamers/9a3e412b-26f9-4e67-8061-30ab6fb508ac Rick Gosselin's full story which I haven't yet had time to read and enjoy...but I will. http://www.talkoffamenetwork.com/rick-gosselins-time-nfl-special-teams-unit/ I'll finish with my favorite special teams moment: Hester's punt return against the Arizona Cardinals to win the game. This gave me one of the best weeks I ever had at work here in the desert. and the Bears fan's perspective...

When the Cardinals brought in Denny Green I told someone that he was the right man for the job but his replacement would be the one to take the team to the next level. Green had an eye for talent and could build a roster but he didn't put that talent all together on the field. Let him build your roster then find your playoff coach, and Green's roster went to the Superbowl. I felt the same way about Fox when he was hired. Not that he has the same eye for talent among players but he has the eye for talent among coaches and he will build a solid locker room. He can build the foundation for you but he won't be your playoff HC. Here we are. It's early but when I see Nagy talk about players I get the sense he understands how to evaluate talent, and, equally important, how to use it to his advantage. Can he keep the discipline needed to achieve long term success? We're in the honeymoon period now but we'll get some sense of that when things don't go well.

While our offense is in it's infancy learning an entirely new playbook, along with numerous new players getting to know each other, the D looks to take another step forward. There aren't many things ever worth noting at this point in the offseason except that this offense is ...different. Consistency on offense will take quite a bit of time but the big play potential already has our defense taking notice. https://chicago.suntimes.com/sports/why-bears-d-is-rallying-around-qb-mitch-trubisky-i-want-to-win-a-championship/ Amukamara... “They’re throwing a lot of different looks at us, and that’s just Nagy’s offense,” he said. “If I was a receiver I would love to play in this offense, just because you get to do so many different things, and you get so many different plays. It just looks fun over there.” Trevathan... “It’s going to be tough, but those guys, they got the right pieces,” he said. “I like what I see out there. When somebody makes a play, they’re gone. Everybody can run over there. “It’s the right fit for Mitch, it’s the right fit for the receivers, the running backs.”

NFC North Defensive rankings 2015/2016/2017: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/years/2015/opp.htm Green Bay: 12th, 21st, 23rd Detroit: 23rd, 13th, 21st Vikings: 5th, 6th, 1st Chicago: 20th, 24th, 9th

Interesting note about our opponents defenses. The Packers have pass rush issues and did nothing to address it, instead loading up on CBs early and WRs late. They have Wilkerson inside which could help depending on which Wilkerson shows up. But the edge of the defense remains a problem. They can say the same about us but at least we put one late round pick on a solid prospect in Fitts. Josh Jackson is a good zone CB, I'm not sure why they drafted him leaving Isaiah Oliver and Carlton Davis on the board, and Lorenzo Carter.

Our fellow fans over at WindyCityGridiron found highlights of Matt Fleming. I'd say there is more to him as a WR than just being a good athlete. Fleming can often be seeing making very good adjustments to the ball trajectory. He doesn't appear to be as fast as Franklin but he has enough speed and quickness to compete on an NFL field. He reminds me a bit of Deonte Thompson. On the flip side it appears the Bears are putting Franklin at CB. This OG looks strong, although the level of competition isn't that high, and he has a mean streak but his feet are a bit slow. I'd say all 3 have some chance at making the practice squad but much remains to be seen before we ever get to that debate. https://www.windycitygridiron.com/2018/5/13/17350566/report-chicago-bears-sign-jeremi-hall-matt-fleming-highlight-simeon-benedictine-south-florida-udfa

Yes, Franklin III is fast. After watching his highlights he doesn't appear to be that agile as far as getting in/out of cuts. Of course this my opinion after watching some highlights of Anthony Miller who appears to be cat-quick in/out of his cuts. Franklin is a former QB converting to WR who has a ton of work to do but maybe he shows enough to stick on the practice squad. Fleming is pretty much in the exact same spot, and sounds like the same type of athlete. If I were these guys I'd be following Miller in everything he does.

I think we typically see about 3 players get offers to stick around after rookie camp. From that pool we typically see nobody ever make the 53 unless we have a roster devastated by injury. But it does happen on occasion around the league. 3 years ago I was all about throwing everything at the wall and seeing what would stick, as the Seahawks did early on in their turnaround. Now we have a reasonable core of players at many positions, but not all, from starters even to backups. Now we're talking about filling out the last few spots on the roster (see thread on Nall) whereas in Fox's first season there were probably 10 plus spots with wide open competition. That's just a reflection on how poor the talent was overall especially the depth players. Fangio didn't like anyone on defense in his first season. If I'm not mistaken only Kyle Fuller has survived on defense from that first training camp. On offense we have Long and Leno. The WR discussion has changed dramatically since January. Now the debate is who stays: Bellamy or Fowler, and does it matter which one? Why not just keep Wims around based on his potential? I'd guess the last time we saw Tanner Gentry's name mentioned on this board was probably 2 months ago. Point is we have collectively moved on from the hope that UDFA players like Braverman and Gentry gave us, myself included. That's a good thing.

As a runner Howard is a perfect fit for the zone runs Nagy wants to do. If only Howard was a bit more adept at the receiving side we'd be in business. For now I think we're in a good spot with Howard and hopefully he'll take another step up with his receiving skills this year.

True but we do know that he does not have the same vision for zone blocking runs as Howard. That was obvious last year when too often Cohen turned back and tried to go the other way only to end up taking a loss. Hopefully an offseason to review his film helps.

Cohen is not at all similar to Kareem Hunt, neither in ability or style of play. Hunt is much closer in running style and ability to Howard than Cohen, actually very similar. Receiving is a different story because Hunt can flip his hips and catch at the same time.

I don't even know where that 3-cone time came from. It doesn't appear he ran that drill at the combine since the time is not listed on their site. All I know is a lot of elite athletes on an NFL field have a lot of trouble catching him. That's good enough for me. Cohen will never be a feature back, nor will Kareem Hunt be a feature back. Kareem Hunt may be a starter (for now) but I expect he'll always split his time in the backfield with someone who is faster. Hunt had a lot of big games early on, against some poor defense too, but after defenses adjusted he settled in as a good RB. That's what he'll be in the NFL.

We often under estimate Howard's quickness in part because he's a big man.

I put him as competition for the 53rd player on the roster, Where did you see HoF in that?

I think he provides serious competition for FB Michael Burton and TE Braunecker. He can run some routes and catch which MBurton is not that adept at. How well he can block will be the biggest question but he has the size for it. In any case that blocking role is a bit less of a preference as we move to more of a spread offense. Nall's versatility means he could play in the H-back role which slots him in to backup TE Trey Burton. In fact he was recruited to Oregon St. to play the H-back role but injuries pushed him to fill in at RB. Trey is 6'3" and 235lbs. Nall 6'2" and 232lbs. Burton's draft profile listed him at 224lbs so he's bulked up since entering the NFL. Comparing combine numbers: 40yd: Nall 4.58s TBurton 4.62s Braun 4.73s MBurton 4.74s 3-cone: Nall 6.95s, TBurton 7.14s Braun 6.90s MBurton 7.2s 20yd shuttle: Nall 4.16s, TBurton 4.32s Braun 4.2s MBurton 4.34s Clearly he fits the athletic profile of the role we signed Trey Burton to fill, and probably is a little more agile. We just spent $6mil/yr on Trey Burton and as a UDFA wondering who has a role he fits, that had to get Nall's attention. He is not nearly as quick footed as Howard but if he's the FB/4th RB/H-back backup then you've got some real value at the bottom of the roster. He should be able to handle special teams coverage as well.

There ya' go. Let's put our 20 year old rookie in a spot where he has help to learn the NFL game. We can give him some time, like a full year, to build his strength too before asking him to hold up against NTs like Goldman. We're kidding ourselves if we don't think Goldman or HIcks wouldn't push him straight back into the QB. In the meantime we can take advantage of his athletic ability as a pulling guard and his quickness will matchup well against 3-techs. I can't believe he's just 20 years old. He started at Iowa, an Oline factory, as a true freshman. If he ends up our starting center this year he'll be ok but expect him to get moved around and need some help like Whitehair did his rookie year. The only thing I can find on his knee injury is that he had a torn meniscus which needed surgery. I suspect that was a bad tear that had to be sewn back into place instead of a minor cleanup. Then it seems he had, on the same knee, either another minor meniscus issue or just a mild sprain because he was back playing after a week or two.

I agree with the need for depth at Safety, we need one of the backups to show some promise this year. As far as Amos goes, last year I felt having Eddie Jackson on the field for deep coverage would help him and I believe it did. Amos was able to focus more on the short to intermediate area, more of what's in front of him, where he's at his best. This year I believe adding Roquan Smith is another piece that improves safety play, and really the DBs across the board. Between Smith, Trevathan, and Floyd we have 3 LBs who can cover a lot of space, not mention staying with TEs or RBs in coverage. The DBs can focus a bit longer on their assignments. If we lose a player (we will), that surrounding talent will help mask issues when we have some backups on the field. If we get a surprise in pass rush help (RRH, Bullard, Fitts) that takes it up a notch as well. It might even be Lynch who surprises us. He sounded pretty motivated to work with Fangio again. And if two of these players can get consistent pass rush we're in a very good spot defensively. The depth issue at OT is why I think we kept Sims around. We have Sims and Shaheen to help with inline blocking, if desired, with Shaheen also being a good receiving option. Every team has roster deficiencies at certain spots, this is ours on offense. We have enough weapons, really diverse weapons, and the coaches who I believe will know how to use them to attack a defense differently each week. It will come down to how quickly Trubisky can learn it all and if he can improve his footwork. He's already been working on his mechanics this offseason so there's reason for optimism there. Starting next week we have about a month of OTAs to kick off the process. I already have my tickets for the Cards game.

He shouldn't be upset at all because he still has a job. I want nothing to do with him though.

There is some Bears related info in here but overall the article, for those who actively follow the draft, is interesting. Gruden is starting his downward spiral earlier than in past coaching jobs. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/2773921-matt-millers-scouting-notebook-how-the-draft-really-went-down-what-it-means

It is well done because he managed to capture the storied history of the franchise in very different but still motivational ways.

Fangio was smiling when Roquan Smith was drafted. When have we ever seen him smiling before?

Like drafting McGlinchey at #9 overall? Lynch was the darling of the draft last year. This year he made a QB who has played 7 games the highest paid in the game. He's followed that with drafting McGlinchey, then Dante Pettis in the 2nd Rd. I watched Pettis quite a bit the last couple years and I like him, figured he'd be one of the 3rd Rd group of WRs. I'm really glad they left Anthony Miller on the board because I think he has better quickness in/out of his cuts. Pettis does have a knack for returning kicks.

As long as he can play around mid-230's he should be ok. If he can't hold that weight his durability could be a big problem.

That list is getting shorter each offseason. IMO Lynch, Fitts, Floyd, and Acho has the potential to be a good group of OLBs. I wouldn't mind bringing in Houston for competition, or backup insurance, through camp.

Right now Roquan is listed on the Bears site as 6'1" 225lbs. I hope that weight is a typo.