DABEARSDABOMB

With them participating in hall of fame game - they can start training camp early. I don't know if that means we have more practices than other teams or if it is just you start earlier and have more off days. I'm presuming more practices - which hopefully is a good thing (presuming they manage player health etc). The actual extra pre-season game, meaningless to me - but probably cool for Bears to be there given Mongo getting into the Hall.

Yep - they were all at Michigan pro day as well. I did find it interesting he literally listed the 3 positions were were assuming - wr, dline and line at 9. He mentioned open to trade down for right price but also mentioned how many draft picks / undrafted guys be brought in since he took over too and made it sound like that was a good number and thus he could afford a bit smaller group now knowing number of picks coming as well. Overall I was impressed with all his quotes other than something struck me as odd when he actually talked about the 3 positions - I feel like you never get that much from a GM which made me wonder if there was purpose to that or maybe it was as simple as taking the strongest pools where trade down might play?

By the way - I don't like that Poles won't be there. I feel like even if they know - they should go through the same process with all 4 of the guys. I don't think pro-days are to watch the guys throw - I don't think anything along those lines is going to be gleaned from a pro day (unless they really have limited tools or something). But the opportunity to see what makes people tick on a 1:1 level - that can be valuable and you should maximize all of those chances. I guess the reality is - they will get that chance if they meet with Maye and have a true 1:1 with him.

I really like both LSU wideouts. I know Nabers will likely be gone at 9 - but their other wideout is fantastic as well and I wouldn't be shocked if he had a better career than some of the other guys. He has all the tools and could be legit great and likely is 4th wideout gone - but possibility you can get him in the 15-20 range (maybe not). But the LSU guy, McConkey (Sp?) from Georgia, and a few of the others guys would be #7-#15 overall picks in many drafts and will likely get picked lower than that given the depth at the position. Makes you wonder if Poles has that sort of grade - does that give him the room to use a pick from next year along with one of his pick(s) this year to move up. Or lest say he moves back to 12-14 to take a top DE or LT - does the ammo he got from that - give him enough comfort to than move back up into the low 20's to grab a wideout he thinks is Top 15 value in a typical draft. If so - I could see the trade economics make sense.

It could be a giant smoke screen - but it does seem clear - Maye is likely trending to the #4 QB going off the draft board. With Caleb & Daniels the clear #1/#2 and McCarthy with a lot of helium and potentially jumping in front of Maye for some clubs (maybe not all) and we know the way this goes with QB's there are definitely teams with different looking boards.

Very well said.

I think if I had the choice - I take the top de if I like them and than find a way to trade up for a wideout (maybe move down 3 spots and get you enough ammo to pair two picks and get into 2nd round for a wideout that would normally grade in round 1. Reality is more elite edges are top picks than wideouts - so I will trust Bears can draft and find a wideout and if Caleb is legit he can actually be multiplier who helps develop wideouts.

LETS GO - continue to become more and more enamored.

There was a bunch of people at the combine saying that Caleb was every bit of his height. NOt saying he is 6-3 but he is not small. There is abig difference from 6-1 or almost 6-1 without cleats on vs. being 5-10 with cleats on (which is Doug Flutie). And Drew Brees is same - he was 6ft with high cleats on.

MHJ has literally ignored EVERYTHING - yet the same people on this board knocking Williams have said nothing about MHJ. MHJ has literally done nothing - no showed media interviews, no measurements, no workouts, etc.

Reality is - he is much more like Luck, Manning, Lawrence, and to a lesser extent Deshaun Watson. I say that as - these were guys who were primarily viewed as #1 overall selections for well over a year. Caleb has been the presumptive #1 pick since midway through the prior year college football season - just like Trevor, Luck, and Peyton Manning were. Deshaun was not quite to same level - but everyone was watching him and he was pretty hyped as well (he is the one who fell - which was a mistake - cause everyone hyper analyzes the #1 guy cause they just get that extra scrutiny). Just like there were teams saying Ryan Leaf would be better than Peyton - even though Peyton was the clear cut #1 for almost 2 full seasons. Lawrence same - Luck same - Caleb same. With all that scrutiny and pressure - in some ways - Caleb going to the NFL will be easy all else being equal (other than the fact that there is still scrutiny on him in Chicago and being #1 QB but in some ways less than the pressure he has faced the past 2 years of being micro-analyzed). Watson got over-analyzed and fell in the draft - but reality is - he was a really good QB (ignoring his off the field issues and more recently injury issues). And I'm not saying that Lawrence has been as good as anyone expected and someone will pull up his stats that have been mediocre - but that dude has played through a ton of injuries and has elevated his team in 4th quarters and made playoffs, etc.

For the record - we all know I’m a Caleb or bust guy, but so I have my errors all documented, JJ is my next favorite qb prospect, but if you draft JJ he has to sit a year. No rushing him.

This feels like a pretty realistic Caleb + trade down draft. I like what it does - addresses edge, gets a solid interior line prospect, and you have a couple solid receiver prospects in a deep receiver draft.

Caleb went 12-0 when his team gave up fewer than 34 points. 34 Points.

Can you show me anything that actually shows this? Kingsbury talked about how he saw Caleb's dad one time while coaching and implied zero issues. The people I know who are huge USC fans never heard anything about Caleb's dad. All that has been is non-sourced weak BS so I am just curious if there is any real source on this. Same with Caleb. These talks about all these demands Caleb's dad made - NONE of them were true - where he wanted to own a piece of the franchise, etc. That stuff out there - was not factual - legit NFL reports have denied every existence of it.

I also go back to - very good wideouts are found later in 1st round and even in 2nd or 3rd round from time to time. Elite edge rushers are very rarely found in 2nd round and later. Sweat is probably one of the rare examples of a high end edge rusher who was drafted in lower half of round 1 - Hunter who left Vikings is another. Same with elite LT's - they tend to be high draft picks vs. not. So far that very reason - I could see Poles leaning to Turner/Alt (I don't see any scenario where Alt is there - but who knows) and than just taking whomever the best wideout is in rd 3 and figure he can try and address wideout again next year? Now if Poles liked one of the other OT prospects (there are a bunch of non Alt guys) that are projected in the 10-20 range of the draft - he could move down and grab one of them and pick up a potential 2nd rounder (as long as he thought they were really good).

Caleb is always looking - he does hold it too long from time to time and did that more this year vs. the year before. He had way worse talent around him by the way (no one is mocking anyone in 1st 3 rounds with possible exception of Jerry Rice's kid going in the 3rd round). Opposite of the other high end QB's who had a TON of talent around them this past season. But Caleb is always using his eyes to manipulate, etc and when he holds it too long - its cause he's going to more reads to take something big, partly because they needed to score 50 a game to win. Their defense was giving up like 450 yards per game. It was AWFUL. Jayden did great this year - but he is more frail and was a "meh" player at his past destinations. I'm leery of a guy who wasn't that good who all of a sudden becomes elite when he's surrounded by the best receiving corps in the country. With that said - Burrow wasn't anything until he jumped between his 1st and 2nd year at LSU. No one saw that coming.

It is also a presumed weaker draft from a depth perspective given lack of underclassmen. We have signed a TON of "depth" players in the past week+ and still have a ton of cap flexibility to do more (plus add a DE to a shorter-term deal like a Chase Young or Clowney or whomever). This screams to me as Poles is going to use those 1st 2 picks on blue chip players - the only question is how many does we have in the draft. Does he see 12 or 13 there or does he have 15. Depending on his count of blue chip players and how he differentiates say the quality of the 1st 10 from the next 5 (if he has 15) is going to be the key question for Poles. If he has 15 of them and the group on the board grades out similarly - than I could see him moving down (the next question is - is there something good enough on the board at 9 that drives a team to pay the price to move up as well). What I don't see Poles doing - is trading down outside of the range of blue chip prospects he sees. For example - if he has 15 blue chippers on the board - I don't see him moving down to 22. That isn't to say there won't be blue-chippers that come up later - the risks are higher and I think right now - Poles has to be looking for a few difference makers (whenever you have a Top 10 pick - you got to be swinging for difference maker(s)). So we should be swinging for 2 difference makers and than hopefully find 1-2 other good / solid football players out of this draft. Note: For sake of this draft - I'm ignoring rounds 5-7 - but Poles could definitely move back from 3 and get a few more picks in rounds 4-5 if he wanted - but I don't see him doing it if his assessment is this is not as deep of a draft. I also think this year - given all the other moves made - Poles is focused on drafting starters vs. depth pieces.

Where do Jack Sanborn and Smith show up (I am surprised Roschon was there when Smith (DB) was far better last year).

Its why I don't think Poles is going to look to have 6 picks, especially in a draft that is apparently light on depth given the lack of underclassmen. I think Poles has been signing a bunch of FA's for depth signaling he plans on basically running with 4, maybe 1 more pick this year (cause I do think a move down from 9 is a possibility) - but otherwise my guess is he might move around within and I suppose could use a next round pick to move up a bit in the draft and than if they want another 1-2 guys maybe they will be aggressive on the Undrafted front. By the way - the inverse also holds true - so next year should end up being a deeper draft - although QB at this point is going to be light, it doesn't mean other positions don't end up looking really good.

5 passing tds in final 8 games 4th quarter rating was lowest of all quarters (3 season sample size) Could not throw and play within the pocket or throw guys open - especially in middle of the field.

Does anyone believe the media, who already made up a bunch of shit about Caleb, are actually sitting there burying a story? No chance in hell. The media wants nothing more to scoop someone or to sit as a talking head blabbing and ripping some kid of there was reason to (they usually don’t even need much reason to to do so). So I don’t buy it for one second.

I agree with everything you just sent - but now let’s go. I’m so excited for the direction we are headed and let’s add two blue chippers and hopefully hit on one or two other picks!!!

I agree. I think the above is what happens unless one of the top 3 wideouts are there or Joe Alt is there.