Alaskan Grizzly

At the risk of being dubbed a 'Debbie downer' I'll go the devil's advocate route and challenge some of these options. For one they added Brandin Cooks to their arsenal this year. And whether he ends up being their #1 WR all he's managed to do is get 1173yds / 8 TDs two seasons ago and 1082 / 7TDs last year. Our guy; Robinson, hasn't had a complete season since 2015 where he got over 1000 yards. To be frank, I'm concerned with how he'll pan out. I've got to believe with all the money paid, he's going to do well. Cooper Kupp (in his first year) got 869 yards and 5 TDs with the Rams last year. Similar to how Stinger thinks Cohen is immeasurable for us, who do we put against Kupp? The best we have is maybe Gabriel who only got 378 yds and 1 TD last year with ATL after going 579 yds the year before. (By the way, this was the same offense (ATL - Ryan) that made Hester look like a respectable receiver). Comparing our #1 TE's? I'm guessing theirs will be Everett (who was a 2nd round pick last year) who got 244 yds with 2 TDs. While with PHI last year, Burton put up 248 yds and 5TDs. Shaheen (himself a 2nd round pick last year) got 127 yds and 2 TDs. Isn't Miller pretty much done or is he still planning on making a comeback? Watkins went to KC on a mega-deal and Woods ended up with 781 yds and 5 TDS after his first year in LA. Our comp maybe is White....who is still TBD. Mostly because I'm still not a believer in Pace, I'm skeptical in how most of 'our' players will pan out. But because I like Nagy...I trust he'll get the best he can out of them.

Actually not. Trubisky did fill in for previous starter Marquise Williams on occasion before getting his own actual designation as starter in 2016. So those other 18 games were in relief efforts for Williams. And, oddly enough, Trubisky didn’t fare all that horribly in relief. Found this article (below) that helps answer some of the questions skeptics like me have/had about Trubiskys potential. https://www.cleveland.com/pluto/index.ssf/2017/04/why_did_mitchell_trubisky_only.html Its kinda the reverse issue that Alabama currently has with Tagavailoa and Hurts.

"Last year MT had 2193 yards- 7 tds-7 int. Ran for 248 yards and 2 tds. (in 2016 Jared Goff 1093 yards-5 tds-7 ints ran for 16 yards and 1 td)" The one glaring difference between the two (besides the 12 vs 7 starts) are the yardage. Otherwise the TD/Int ratio is pretty similar as is the completion rate (Goff 54.6% Trub 59.4%). The stats can be viewed in two ways. One being the way you're reading them which by the raw numbers show Trubisky played more games than did Goff his first year. However, between the two they were pretty 'apples to apples' in most other statistics. Interestingly enough, in their college careers Goff played 37 games and produced 12,195 yards (7.8 yd avg) through the air with 96 TDs and 30 INTs where Trubisky played in 31 games where he threw for 4,762 yards (8.3 yds avg) with 41 TDs and 10 INTs. The efficiency rating weighed a bit more in Trubisky's favor during that time although Trubisky only had 13 actual 'starts' where Goff pretty much started all the games he played in.

I’m curious how you can say: “MT is ahead of Goff in his second year.” Is it based solely on Trubisky vs Goff or who they have around them?

After they made a try at getting Vic over as their new DC (upon the departure of Capers) they instead grabbed Mike Pettine. He’s heralded as a decent DC who like Fangio, gets his defenses playing in the top 10. I’m guessing he saw a need for more pass protection with having to see Stafford and Cousins twice a year. Hopefully Trubisky will give him fits too.

According to Belichik they didn’t know about it in NE either. Two avenues of thought here. Court of law and court of public opinion. Due process has been played out with the court of law. I am personally troubled that a Grand Jury originally decided on a true bill of assault back when this started. But apparently due to the victim’s unwillingness to testify the prosecuting attorneys office at the time chose not to go through a trial. From what it sounds the statute of limitations has run its course and any new charges are essentially moot. It should be noted that ‘due process’ would have also allowed Patricia to defend himself against any allegations at the time. But due to their not being any trial, he couldn’t and didn’t have to. Probably why both the Patriots and Lions were not aware; no public record of it for background investigators to ‘discover’. Now that this has resurfaced he will have to answer to it in the court of public opinion. And because of that the Lions will have to make a descion on what they do next.

You’re right. I meant to compare Cohen more to Tyreek Hill not Hunt. Although listed as a WR he gets a fair amount of touches from the backfield. I had my ‘H’ - backs mixed up. Although your case for Hunt is more in line with how similar he is with Howard. Thus dismissing, or at least diminishing the nay-sayers on whether Howard would work in Nagys offense.

Agreed. (Wish there was a way to ‘like’ comments on this new format.) I would hope that Trubisky does exactly as you suggest. The WCO with some zone runs thrown in for Howard will make things a bit less likely for Trubisky to fail. Should be fun to watch.

You’re suggesting I watch highlight film on each player? Thought you weren’t a supporter of that. And for the record I didn’t necessarily relate to stats but instead measured results in comparable skill tests. Will Cohen have special moments? Probably. Will he be the most special player on the team? Doubtful.

Interesting take. Perhaps you’re confusing the difference between having one and being one? That being said, the point is that Cohen does not have a unique skill set. How he uses them, and his newer found strength, in a different offense against other players that were mostly not on the team last year; remains to be seen.

From what I saw his 3 cone drill was from a pro day. Ill agree that Cohen could be a decent back. He was fun to watch last year and similar to Hunt, other teams will figure him out.

So what you’re saying about him is not only is he shortest of the players I listed, but he’s got better ‘short area quickness’? Better than other players who were faster in the cone drill and 40 yard dash? Before you answer that, do you see him more like a feature back similar to Kareem Hunt in KC or a gadget back like Darren Sproles?

Ok for the sake of argument, explain to me the differences. Especially in relation to how this offense will spotlight them or that. Stinger even said that Cohen ‘put on 10 lbs this winter’ and thus cannot be compared to a player like Gabriel because he’s not ‘close in strength’. Is strength a skill set or physical ability? And are not the measurables I provided an example of measured skills and abilities?

Meh...In just looking at some of the more 'newer' players to the team that could be used in similar situations (slot and/or catching out of backfield) he's middle of the road when comparing 'measurables'. Of the players to include Cohen, Miller, Cunningham, Gabriel and Fowler; Cohen only has the edge in height (or lack thereof). He being 5'6" at the shortest. Weight wise he's the second lightest at 179# where Gabriel measures at 165#. In the 40, Cohen was clocked at 4.42 where both Gabriel and Fowler beat him 4.40 and 4.35 respectively. On the cone drill (used to measure elusiveness and lateral movement) Cohen ran a 7.22 where three other players bested him; Miller, Gabriel and Fowler at 6.65, 6.84 and 7.06 respectively. Lastly, there has been talk about his 'huge hands' and although I wasn't able to find the measurements of all the players I was able to find his and Miller's. Cohen's hand size is 10 1/8" where Miller's are 10 5/8". HIs 'skill set' is not unique.

He has proven over the last few years that not only has he got the quickness but patience to wait for the block that he needs. Which is a key need in a zone blocking scheme. Agreed. He's proven the ability over the course of two years to constantly get at least 1,000 yards. And that was with a pretty vanilla offense. I have a suspicion that for all the razzle-dazzle, Cohen's value will start to wear thin. Especially with more players similar to his skill set on the roster and defenses getting familiar with his style of play. Howard is pretty unique in his abilities and keeps on chugging away despite the familarity.

Sure there may be some superficial undertones to what the players say, but I also sense some ’genuity’ to it too.

Yeah I think with the younger generation it’s important to grab their attention, if only briefly. This is effective and like you said ties in the history of the franchise. Which, if you listen to a lot of the players being brought in to the team will refer to the revered history that is the Bears. I’m sure many of them want to be a part of that no matter how long ago it was.

Saw this on Chicagobears.com. Nicely done Coach Nagy. http://m.chicagobears.com/news/article-1/Nagy-sending-message-with-motivational-art/87a6d6e3-1632-44a8-ba6e-fa64a734852d

Don't the "experts" do that same thing with mock draft 2.0, 3.0 etc? I'm fairly confident that GM's (and their staffs) do the same thing, but behind closed doors. There was this cat who is an area scout for the Bears doing an interview with Lauren Screeden (believe his name was Sam Summervile) talking about his meeting(s) with 1st round pick Smith. During his talk he mentioned how excited they were in the war room that Smith was still available to them at 8 and how concerned they were he may not have been. What if he hadn't? More than likely they would have had to go with option 1a, or 1b. That by itself tells you how fluid this type thing is. Looking at Summerviles's history with the Bears, he's also scouted former players Khaseem Greene and Deon Bush (as well as Eddie Jackson, Cohen and Goldman) so he's not even been 100%. One thing I can say for Jason is that he's consistently been an Oline guy. He and I, and others, have gone back and forth on what the basis for a good team needs, especially through the draft. He is of the opinion that it is oline, I beg to differ. But he's always been pretty consistent with that. For anyone to be able to accurately predict how the top 5 QB candidates this year will do is crazy. Of them we have no real concrete way of knowing when they'll start. Even with Mayfield, they have a pretty capable player in Taylor signed on. But even if they were all to start on game one there's no way of predicting how well they'll do. What about injury or other intangibles that cannot be forecasted? I'm still of the opinion that Watson would have been the better pick than Trubisky. But Watson was slowed by injury after coming out the gates quickly whereas Trubisky was mired by an un-imaginative offense (or so we hope).

Yeah if Whites injuries were repeated that would be one thing. But he’s gone from shins to ankle/fibula to shoulder injuries. The kid is just having bad luck. I hope he makes it the whole year this year.

Smith hands down is (IMHO) the most exciting pick. Similar to Pix I’d have been ok with Edmunds too. But after hearing Smith in post-draft interviews I’m sold. My very close second liked choice would be the last pick Wims. I have this sneaky suspicion that either Robinson or White won’t be available (hopefully not at the same time) and that’s where Wims will come in. To do what he did last year in Georgia is pretty impressive. (thanks Ashkum for the insight).

Apparently all he did was after transfer from JuCo he led the Bulldogs in Rec, TDs and rec yards(?) last year. Despite, as you point out, not being the primary receiver. Nice!!! Thanks for the feedback.

Preach Brother Jason!! Although I’d argue that Fangio had the defense going in the right direction two years ago. Wasn’t it ranked top 10 that year? Considering the mess he inherited AND the change from 4-3, I’d say he’s done pretty dang good. And you’re right in that collectively our fellow posters are as good (if not better) MOST times at evaluating talent than many “experts”.

What do you know about him? I’ll do some reading up but curious why he was available so late.

RE: Javon Wins After the Smith pick this is my second favorite choice in the draft. On paper looks great.