bradjock
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Posts posted by bradjock
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Lately I’ve been feeling stressed about our offensive line (Granted, as I work in education, I’ve had more time than usual to worry about frivolous things). One thing that made me feel better is that as per SportsMockery & Brad Biggs, Alex Bars may be the reason we have no upgraded our offensive line: https://sportsmockery.com/2020/03/belief-is-alex-bars-might-be-keeping-bears-from-signing-help-at-guard/
He’d have been drafted if he hadn’t injured his knee and the Patriots wanted to sign him to their active roster last season.
Realistically, we were never going to move on from Massie or Leno. We were too happy with them after the 2018 season, we have too much invested in them, and we are short on cap space, so it would be real tough to upgrade. We are also pretty happy with James Daniels and Cody Whitehair.
The one move we really had to make was at RG. If Alex Bars can be the guy who successfully replaces Kyle Long, that would be amazing.
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1 hour ago, adam said:
I took a look at the roster and moves the team has made since the end of the season to see where the holes were in the 53-man roster to see where they will look next. Based on that, here are some positions they will address:
1. Safety - The team lost HHCD, McManis, and Houston-Carson this offseason, 3 of 5 opening day safeties. I think they have a chance to bring back Houston-Carson, and maybe even McManis, but right now the team is down 3 safeties, the most of any position group on the team.
2. OL - The team lost Long, Lucas, and Larsen from the opening day roster, but eventually gained Bars. However, the team is down at least 2 OL right now.
3. ILB - The team lost Kwit and KPL and have not added any yet, so they are down 2 ILBs.So with at least two roster spots open for Safety, OL, and ILB, you have to believe those will be main targets going forward. The next few position groups have at least one hole:
4. RB - The team lost Davis and Whyte from their opening day roster and gained Nall during the season, still down at least 1.
5. WR - The team lost Gabriel and have not added a WR. Down 1.
6. DL - The team lost Williams and have not added a DL. Down 1.
7. OLB - The team lost Floyd and Lynch, and gained Quinn, so down 1.
That's it, QB, TE, and CB do not have any holes or have a surplus.
Positions of excess: right now the team has too many TEs and CBs, so I don't think they will target any, we had 4x TEs on the opening day roster last season and now have 7 on the roster (Burton, Shaheen, Braunecker, Horsted, Harris, Holtz, and Graham), so something will have to give there. For CBs, they lost Prince but added Roberson and Burns with Fuller, Skrine, Tolliver, and Shelley on the roster. So they are plus one there too.My assumption is all the picks within the first 6 rounds will make the roster. That is now 2x 2nds, a 5th, and 2x 6ths. That is 5 players. With 11 holes to fill, that means the Bears will need to make at least 6 more FA acquisitions to address the shortages.
Good insight. The one thing that stands out to me is that we’ve done a pretty good job of filling all of our needs. Yes, we lost Ha Ha, but plugging n Deon Bush at strong safety is not a bad option. Yes, we lost Tyler Garbiel, but we added Jimmy Graham. If you have Graham and Burton on the field at the same time, that eliminates the need for a 3rd WR like Gabriel. We also have Riley Ridley in year #2 and you got to think we’ll try and utilize Cordarrelle Patterson.
The one glaring omission from this offseason is not upgrading the offensive line. Heading into the 2019 season, we’d hoped that Kyle Long would be a pro-bowl RT. He’s retired and we are just going to replace him with Alex Bars? Not to mention that Leno and Massie were not great last year. We could easily use both 2nd round picks on an offensive lineman and STILL need to acquire a good RG. I am stunned that we have done nothing to address this need.
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17 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:
I don't know if anyone mentioned this before but the reason we had to give a forth is because Jacksonville took a 18.75 million cap hit to do the deal. We had to give them something for doing that.
Nice! I didn’t know that. I did know that he can opt out of his contract after next season.
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16 minutes ago, adam said:
Artie Burns, former 1st round pick, signs a one-year deal with Bears:
Nice pick-up! The #2 CB spot is going to be one of the most interesting position battles.
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On 3/18/2020 at 1:36 PM, dawhizz said:
Losing the 4th round pick suggests to me that unless there's a guy they love sitting there, the Bears could very well trade back with both their 2nd round picks. Something like #43 to the Jets for #48 and #120, and then #50 to the Chiefs for #63 and #96. Two picks in the first 162 picks is not going to cut it.
That sounds like one helluva a good plan. But based on what Pace has done, isn’t it more likely that we trade up instead of down?
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On 3/20/2020 at 10:49 AM, Stinger226 said:
At worst a good backup. Maybe will surprise but will have competition.
He could be a damn good starter for us this season. With a ball hawking safety like Eddie Jackson, we really just need a solid tackler who’s smart enough to get to the right spot. It shouldn’t be that difficult.
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1 hour ago, AZ54 said:
Not much on that list is worth getting excited about but neither is Graham. The only one I'd consider would Joseph and I think he got overpaid equally as much as Graham... about 50% more than I expected. Joseph has never even played a full season gets you 1 INT a year and gets between 40-50 solo tackles.
Ebron's stats match up very well with Graham's. Certainly we could have had similar performance on the field for less money and I expected us to go that direction. The only thing I can think of is we really wanted Graham's leadership for the young TEs on the roster.
Over at the Colts Chris Ballard worked for the Bears for years and was always held in high regard. When he publicly said we have no interest in re-signing Ebron it was about as damning a statement you will see from a GM on a player. Whatever happened there, and they had QB issues, it is clear Pace was aware and didn't want Ebron in our locker room.
Regardless I'm still not happy about paying $8mil/yr for Graham. If he can help the young guys Horsted and Holtz to improve then he just might make me feel like he's worth $6mil/yr.
That’s a damn good point about Chris Ballard not wanting to re-sign Enron. I’m sure there’s a reason why it was such a low deal. Also, I suspect the only reason we are all so eager to get Ebron is because he was a former top 10 pick.
Graham gives us another weapon and we are desperate for weapons. Good signing.
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On 3/16/2020 at 7:28 PM, Stinger226 said:
If they wanted to kick the tires on him for 4 or 5 mil on 1 yr , I would understand but with limited cap space, this is absolutely a desperate move. The Packers were hurting for pass catchers last year and he had 38 receptions with Rodgers. There is nothing here that's tells me, he will be better than that now. He wasn't even a red zone target for Aaron.
Pace must have the beer virus.
I would rather prefer Horsted with upside given his snaps. This tells me Pace only has 1 year left at his job. Other than Paces ties with NO, who ever thought this was a good idea should be fired now.
I agree this is a desperation move. But incorporating the TE is a huge part of what we want to do in this offense. One of the reasons the offense regressed in 2019 was due to the lack of a TE. We no longer have to count on just Trey Burton. We now have two TE weapons we can deploy. It’s been rumored that we want to run more two TE sets next season.
Everyone seems worried about how many TE’s we are carrying. Realistically we will end up keeping 4. Two for their playmaking ability (Burton & Graham . . . Maybe Horsted) and two for their blocking/special teams ability (Perhaps Harris & Brauneker.). It’s tough to imagine that Shaheen makes the team. I do find it unlikely that we would draft a TE.
In terms of what happens to PACE, I’m not going to worry about that until I see how we perform next season.
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On 3/19/2020 at 10:54 AM, AZ54 said:
Jimmy Graham blocking. Love the second one where he puts the DE airborne into his own bench.
B
I feel one helluva a lot better after watching that. Before this, I felt like we’d signed a guy who was only good for pass catching, but was now older and slower. If he can be a complete player, the money will be well worth it.
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3 hours ago, BearFan NYC said:
Ive wondered about this too. It was in my pre-Free Agency thread about who to cut or trade etc. A lot of the moves i mentioned have come to pass, even though people said they wouldnt
But I worry about this too. I hope that Mike McCaskey told him not to do anything like that. I even included a quote where McCaskey had signed off on the various trades that Pace made, so one assumes that to trade future picks he would need a green light.
But I surely dont know for sure. Its a real question, especially with their backs against the wall as you say.One thing is I don’t think we’ve traded away any 2021 draft picks yet. Although I do worry about how much dead cap money we are pushing into future years. We are definitely trying to win now.
That being said, I really can’t get on board with “Paces last year.” In 2018, he was the executive of the year. In 2019, we finished 7 & 8 (I don’t count the Minnesota game). We are better today than we were 3 days ago.
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4 hours ago, BearFan NYC said:
when the music stops, some QB is going to be left standing without a deal, and they will get underpaid on a short term deal, which puts MT in a position to win the job, and likely we pick a QB in the first round next year.
That sounds amazing. Why didn’t we play that game with Tight End as Eric Enron and others are still available?
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8 hours ago, Connorbear said:
White - gone.
Floyd - gone.
Trubisky - here but may no be the starter anymore
Smith - Possible all pro
Only Smith has worked out. Trubisky is a huge ? right now.
Peace
Saying Roquan has worked out and is a possible all pro is REALLY optimistic.
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That is interesting as hell. Although I still wish we’d address the offensive line. It’d be nice if we had a right guard.
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12 minutes ago, Bill said:
Hard to believe Keenum and Mariota went on the first day. If they sign anyone now who can truly compete it's not going to come cheap.
It’s like the back-ups were quick to sign, but the starters are mostly waiting for the Tom Brady domino to fall. And we appear to be looking for a starter instead of a back-up.
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16 minutes ago, Stinger226 said:
I'm an optimist but I'm in the same lane with you now. The Graham grab is so not a good idea.
Who were we bidding against? Don’t you feel like we could have had him for 3-5 million per next week?
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47 minutes ago, AZ54 said:
What did the Raiders pay? Why did Mariota go there? Because he thinks Gruden is a QB guru? The money will tell the story but if it's low it does not mean the Raiders are out of the FA QB market. They might decide to go with someone like Bridgewater and move on from Carr.
I have not seen or heard any details. That’s a damn good question. I’d thinking Mariota would love to come to Chicago to challenge Trubisky. In Last Vegas he’s a clear #2.
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But we want Foles and Dalton who will cost like 17-18 million and a draft pick??? This is very confusing.
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I really like the idea of signing Jimmy Graham. We were desperate for help at TE.
I HATE the idea of paying 8 million per. He’s more like a 3-5 million guy. We have extremely limited resources and this is a decadent expenditure. Not worth the price.
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The news is that we are trying to get one of them. Both have a big price tag and both would cost a draft pick. I would be good with either—but not at that cost. I really have no preference.
I gotta admit that I was hoping for Marcus Marriota. But it looks like he’s signing with the Raiders.
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1 hour ago, DABEARSDABOMB said:
There is absolutely nothing about this guy that excites me. Nothing. I will caveat there are reasons for him struggling in Cincy I am sure, but still, this guy had one of the worst offenses in the league during his 2 seasons as OC in Cincy. We could have had Sherman, Nagy just had to give up playcalling. We can only hope Nagy is smarter than we think, but in general, this screams of a HC being in over his head and not being able to delegate out more. Man my comfort would have been so much higher if they went with Caldwell (who is a proven OC) or Sherman. I could have even gotten beyond a total unknown in Kafka on the sake he could be great.
Hopefully he is actually amazing, but man, nothing inspiring about this move. I will say he did get a lot of out of some of his random QB's at different points along the way (if there was one positive to look at). Fact that he actually called plays at the NFL level is also nice (vs. Helfrich).
True, but what did you expect? This job is not desirable for several reasons:
1. Nagy is still calling the plays. No top OC candidate would go for that.
2. We had one of the worst offenses in the league and one of the worst in Bear’s history. We have very little cap space and very few draft picks. Good luck with that.
3. You are tied to Mitch Trubisky. If he continues to suck—you’re going to get fired.
All things considered, he seems like a solid pick up.
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On 8/4/2019 at 2:12 PM, adam said:
My Deflated Balls, Kittle and Mahomes? Man, that was a great draft. Your keepers are locked in lol.
Thanks! For once I got lucky and late round flyers actually paid off. That pretty much never happens.
I hope I don’t regret it, but I actually plan to pass on George Kittle. I drafted Mahomes in the 11th round so I’ll keep him in the 10th. I drafted James Conner in the 15th round so I’ll keep him in the 13th.
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We traded Jordan Howard and then brought in something like 16 running backs to check out. As soon as the Rams took a running back, we decided to move up.
We obviously feel that he will have a Kareem Hunt like impact on this team, meaning that he’ll be performing at a pro bowl level. This is a player that we expect will help us win immediately. You gotta love it.
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2 hours ago, BearFan NYC said:
Does anyone know where to find a list of our 2020 picks? Ive looked all over and cant find them - weird, it's the internet and everything.
I could not find a list. I doubt we have 10 picks in 2020. The Khalil Mack trade demanded that we give up 2 first round picks for 2019 & 2020. A 2nd in 2019, a 6th in 2019, and a 3rd in 2020. We receive a 2nd in 2020 and a conditional 5th in 2020.
What were the conditions of the 2020 5th round pick??? That he’s terrible or doesn’t play? I’m skeptical we see that.
At most we have 8 picks in 2020. No #1. Our #2, Oakland’s #2, No #3, Our #4, Our #5, maybe another #5 from Oakland, Our #6, Philly’s #6 for Howard and our #7.
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19 hours ago, lemonej said:
I was at camp yesterday and the pace of the practice was something I had never seen at TC before! Constant motion every team drill whether 7 on 7 or full 11 on 11 was on the 30 second clock.
There seemed to be a big emphasis on all the QBs to get the ball out quick or check down. Anthony Miller looks like we may have something and Kevin White looked like he's playing for his life.Cohen and Howard in some drills were split out wide.
Mitchell Trubisky didn't look good to me. He was throwing the ball high and Amukamara picked him twice in a 3 play span. A couple of times under duress from the rush he threw off his back foot with bad results. After hearing Nagy talk I didn't realize the players had the previous day off but, Trubisky looked a little off the whole day as some of his WRs made highlight catches. Anthony Miller continues to act like he has something to prove and Allen Robinson looked smooth and appeared to be holding back.
As for the defense the front 3 will have some real size to chose from. Hicks looks all of 330 pounds and Bilal Powell looks like a mountain. Goldman moved well but Bullard still seems like his motor is half on. WTBS this group looks poised to have a breakout year. The OLBs Lynch in shorts and watching next to Trevathan but Floyd if he is heavier it wasn't obvious to my eyes. He was moving well though and showed no ill affects of his injury though he did walk into the tent once during drills for a short time but came back out and immediately jumped back in. As is the case in most camps and especially this one the defense looked light years ahead of the offense.
So far nothing has been mentioned about this but Grasu walked right pass me during practice in route to the locker room and seemed to be limping. As he walked past I mentioned to the group I was sitting with that I felt he was getting cut this year. He also was wearing knee braces on both knees.
Again I can't over emphasis how fast the pace of practice was. There was constant work during the whole 3 hour period and when a group wasn't participating in a drill they worked on the next field as a group. That is how I got a chance to see Floyd up close and if he is 250 it must be all muscle because only his lower base looked thicker. The OLB group as a whole looked small and more speed focused than powerful.
Great analysis! Thanks for sharing. Here’s a couple thoughts:
1. There’s been lots of talk about Trubisky’s interceptions. As per the SCORE, Nagy is not worried about him making mistakes at this point and it should improve with some game planning. Nothing to worry about yet.
2. I saw Grasu at camp last year limping around with the double knee braces. I thought last year he’d be a long shot to make the team.
3. Is it faster paced then when Trestman was coaching?
Remaining Offseason Moves
in Bearstalk
Posted
Agreed about trading back. But don’t we say this every year and then every year we trade up? Heck, we even traded up to draft David Montgomery.