AZ54

Didn't Harbaugh start out at San Diego State or something like that? The Chargers aren't in San Diego anymore but I could see his ego loving the glamour world of LA. What constitutes a draft "expert"? What is that experts record?

I re-read my post just to be sure but I never said "generational franchise QB". I don't see that in these draftees. Doesn't mean one won't end up that way. "Historically there is always one good long term starting QB." IMO that is the most likely landing point with one of the top 3 QB draftees. That is the basis for my comparison to Fields. I also think Justin Fields can be a good long term starting QB. I think he's trending there based on his play in the 2nd half of the season but not there yet. I wouldn't put him in the generational talent either but that also doesn't mean he won't end up that way. If he gets there, it is going to be more along the path Roethlisberger followed. Interestingly Roethlisberger went to the Pro Bowl in 2007 when he only threw for 3100yds in 15 games. HIs first 4000 yd season was his 6th year.

I totally agree, Burrow had and still has some accuracy issues deep. Those concerns carried over to the draft. However, you can overcome that with the WRs he had at LSU and now in the NFL who are fantastic at adjusting to the ball. He's a much better processor of defenses than Fields and short to intermediate he'll slice you up. I don't see a similar talent in this draft. I think Caleb Williams is more of a creative QB at this point than pocket passer. Regardless, his mental toughness and leadership are my main concerns. Losing reveals character. Among the top 3, Maye might be closest to Burrow's style in the pocket but I think that's a stretch. Of course he also hasn't thrown to equivalent college receiving talent. I haven't watched but a single full game of Daniels since he left ASU so I'm mostly relying on input from this board to this point. When I watch all snaps of the Florida game (350yd passing, 200yd rushing) he reminds me a lot of Justin Fields. I don't see him throwing with a lot of anticipation. He bails out of the pocket sometimes unnecessarily and runs (great runner). Great deep ball. Oddly I find him to be the most intriguing of the top 3. Maybe because he could literally step right into the same offense as Fields and we wouldn't miss a beat. His slight frame is a concern in the NFL and we've seen how tough hits have been on Fields. All three have enough physical talent they will blow up the pre-draft process.

That is exactly the problem for me...there isn't a Joe Burrow, Andrew Luck, or Trevor Lawrence in this draft. Caleb Williams is supposed to be that guy. I haven't seen that in the games I watched but I didn't watch every USC game. Historically there is always one good long term starting QB from each NFL draft. Every 5 years you get two. As far as I can tell it's a reasonable gamble on any of the top 3 being that guy....which is just a 33% probability. Unless you believe there are two this year. Of course the most-excellent GMs in the NFL are all supposed to be able to figure out which one it will be. Yet even offensive geniuses like Shanahan in SF go after Trey Lance aggressively. Meanwhile Poles has had good success drafting talent at Dline/Oline and defensive backfield. WR is a clear miss IMO (at best an incomplete if Scott learns how to catch), RB is ok with Roschon but just ok. So what do we really know with Poles drafting offensive skill players? That's why after Fields' improvement in the 2nd half of the season I flipped away from the draft Jedis. I believe Fields has shown he can be a top 15 QB especially with the right OC. That also includes better talent in front of and around him. All draft picks have odds of success. Get more picks improve your chances of finding good players. We still need a lot of them. The one bet I'm willing to make: I'm 100% certain one of the top 3 QBs will be the guy and everyone will say we should have drafted him.

Run away from that.

Two years ago nobody with experience wanted these jobs (OC/DC). Flus had trouble finding his DC for sure and eventually settled on Williams but he was clearly never his first choice. This time around we have the phone ringing with people calling to be on the list and we start out of the gate with two of the top candidates on our wish list (not necessarily the same as Poles/Flus list).

I'm waiting on the combine to get a better sense of where Newton fits in. I have concerns about his length and he's not Aaron Donald elite with his athleticism to get around that.

A team typically carries 4 QBs in camp. Might not be anything more than that.

I'd phrase it differently but yeah: Do you know when to call/utilize quick slants? Against which type of defenses and what situations? What are your counter plays to the quick slants and when/why would you call those plays? I don't really care about B2B plays if they are effective. I know that's not practical in most situations but for all I care we can run off-tackle for 8 yds a pop all game long if they can't stop it. Last year, or maybe a couple years back, the Packers just ran screen after screen against our D and we couldn't stop it. Just don't go assuming the next opponent has the same weakness or that it's your strength against everyone. Would you call the same play if you weren't gaining any yards? Would you call those WR screens and put your 175lb rookie receiver as the primary blocker? This is where on-the-field talent has to match up with game plan/scheme. Bad memories.

Yeah but watching some film, usually of other players like Dexter, he seems to get pushed around an awful lot. Sometimes 5 yards downfield. Seems like it's hit or big miss with him. OTC says he's worth $6mil/yr again like his recent deal with us, but I'd rather find someone young with more upside for that position. I'd take a shot on Chris Jones if he remains available and he's still asking around $20mil/yr. If you prefer an ideal Poles target check out Madubuike, 26yr old entering his prime. He's got the quick first step you need at 3-tech and has some power to his game. The Ravens have just $17mil in cap space for 2024 and that's with only 44 players rostered and no easy big money cap cuts. They can free up maybe $10-15mil if they cut a few players but the rookie pool will eat up $10mil. Rostering 9 (or 12) players with $17mil gets eaten up fast and their FAs are some of their good players not the least of which is Patrick Queen. OTC has Madubuike valued at $15.5mil/yr but popular FAs always get overpaid, and pass rushers with 10 sacks are in demand, so he'll likely get closer to $18mil/yr. Paired up with Sweat on the outside, Dexter on the nose, and a top 10 DE at RDE and no QB is going to have much time to throw. Just need to add a good safety and the D is complete. With Madubuike and the DE that need drops a bit. Plus there appears to be some decent vet FA options we might be able to fill with a $5mil/yr deal. You got 1 draft pick for DE and all other picks can be offense if you want. Rookie pools: https://overthecap.com/draft https://overthecap.com/free-agency/baltimore-ravens

Wilkins might be a wishlist player but there is no reason to bring back Justin Jones. His best and only attribute has been leadership. We won’t need that next year and we will need more production out of the 3 tech.

et tu Adam? The cheap extension of Fields is an interesting thought although I don't see it happening. If that extension worked out it would help with re-signing Poles first draft players like Gordon and Brisker. Pairing it with a similar trade down as we did last year which I see as being very likely (he does two trades down in top 10) yields 3 picks in 1st Rd in 2025. To walk out of this draft with 2 good WRs, backup OT, starting caliber RG and Center, and starting caliber Safety is pretty good.

He had offers last year, likely in the college ranks for HC, and chose to stay with the one who brung him. He's already making $2mil/yr which should make him quite happy. I'm always leary of the college transition to the NFL because of the rule differences. Then there is the fact he's on the west coast (Pac 12 for now) a region not known for good defense. He's a good coach but given where we are now I don't think this is the time to gamble on someone without NFL experience.

I agree that Poles leans toward Fields but not certain/sold. The leadership and mental toughness aspect is a big part of his evaluation. Same goes for the draftees. He said he's taking the #1 pick all the way to April, I'd say it goes at least well into March to where he has to make a decision on the 5th year option. Which leads to.. He didn't seem inclined to keep Justin and draft a QB 1 overall. Although he said he'll consider all scenarios that one didn't seem to be something he's already mulled over. Jaylon Johnson was mentioned in his first sentence as a key player for the future. He's going to get a new contract. He backed that up later. Mooney does not seem to be part of the plan going forward. He alluded to the fact some players we let test the market and then decide. That seems to be what'll happen with Mooney. My guess is he sees him and Scott as redundant roster pieces. For the OC role the ability to adjust to both talent on the field (i.e. QB strengths), adjust against a defensive strength, and in-game adjustments all seemed to be key. Which, reading between the lines, is indicating what they didn't see from Getsy. Chris Morgan is definitely on the staff for next year and the few other remaining offensive assistants. Team page appears to be updated: https://www.chicagobears.com/team/coaches/. Poles gave a ton of credit to our training staff... .called them elite. We do not have a single player needing surgery as we head into the offseason. I'm not sure I've seen that before. Certainly there is some luck to that but a lot of players returned from injury and stayed healthy. That's an indication of a good rehab process IMO. Kudos to Brad Biggs (I think it was him) for asking Poles what he missed on with CJ Stroud last year.

I’m so old I can remember when people were concerned Getsy was going to be hired away to be a HC.

So far everyone involved in the passing game has been fired. Those involved in the running game have stayed. Oops just saw that we fired our RB coach. I was just listening to some names being rattled off for OC and one that was interesting was Klint Kubiak. He's had success at multiple stops, has a lot of NFL experience, and now with the 49ers knows their system. If there is going to be any attempt at improving Fields I think we'd keep a similar system to what Getsy has run the last 2 seasons. That plus Flus said at the time he hired Getsy that this system gave him the most challenges when he was game planning. https://www.49ers.com/team/coaches-roster/klint-kubiak

The Fields question is somewhat of a mute point because regardless of QB any new OC will have to bring a plan to improve the performance of a young QB. The Bears can review tape of their games with a new OC and then ask what would you have done in this situation and why. Then again, any serious candidate would already be doing that ahead of the interview. If Poles wants to quietly up the trade value of #1 he can float some feelers out there for a trade of Justin Fields. Then weigh it all into the final decision.

Some very long discussions by the front office just to get to this point. Unless your name is Tepper nobody does this without a plan. Who is on Flus' radar for OC? That had to enter the discussion as to why they would be a better choice than Getsy. Why should we expect anything to be different? The first name I've seen popup, one I have no clue or sentiment one way or another, is Frank Reich. https://www.si.com/nfl/bears/news/bears-reportedly-fire-offensive-coordinator-qb-coach "Immediately, offensive coordinator speculation will focus on Eberflus' friend and former boss in Indianapolis, Frank Reich. The Carolina Panthers fired Reich as head coach during the 2023 season." I wasn't aware PFR had coaching stats: https://www.pro-football-reference.com/coaches/ReicFr0.htm

After Jaylon Johnson this list is just a bunch of whatever. There are a few decent backups in the list like Foreman who I wouldn’t mind if they came back for the right price. I also wouldn’t mind having a better replacement. That’s about 33% of the roster nobody will miss which is a clear reminder to me how far this team has to go in the rebuild.

Factory workers, especially me, take offense at that. It's complete ignorance to think the only professionals are those making millions of dollars. You have no clue what people have to do in their personal life when they are on call 24x7x365 year after year. Being a "lowly paid" professional takes a lot more effort to guarantee your future than someone who has enough guaranteed money they never have to work another day in their life. The vast majority of the professionals I've worked with would absolutely come in for a similar scenario because I've known many managers who did it for layoffs when they themselves were also laid off. In the end you proved correct... most people can't comprehend what it means to be a professional nor do they understand what it means to have class in how you treat other people.

True value is always what the highest bidder is willing to pay.

Jaylon said he was going to play so I expect him out there.

Were you expecting a rebuilding team to start out beating the better teams and QBs? We have to start learning how to win somewhere and that is mostly likely to happen against the bad teams. FWIW he also beat Goff and I can make a good argument he soundly defeated him for 117 minutes in 2 games. It's also interesting that Wilson made your list of good QBs a week after he was benched, or maybe more depressing that we lost that game.

Wow. It's been awhile. https://www.chicagobears.com/news/montez-sweat-jaylon-johnson-selected-to-pro-bowl-games-2023

Never saw it. It’s pretty funny.