adam

From all accounts, DJ is a cool cat. Just the fact that he was there and just hanging out like a normal dude is pretty cool.

Very Cool

Sort of Bears related, Eddie Jackson finally agreed to a deal with the Ravens: The Ravens has the 3rd lowest cap space before this deal, so it can't be much more than a vet minimum deal.

No offense to any previous starting QBs, but neither Justin or Mitch seemed like guys that could pick up things on the fly or under pressure. They both could throw the ball and if it was their first read, they were solid, but when they had to tap their head and rub their bellies at the same time, they struggled. This clearly separates the guys you win with, with the guys you win because of. It is great to see Williams looking good this early. It takes a lot of reps to master anything, so he still has a ways to go, especially with the timing. The Bates news is exciting because that has been an area of concern for awhile now, if he can deliver the ball consistently and play average Center, the line is going to be really solid.

Fields left so many plays on the field, especially in crunch time. That is why his stats were OK, but close and late, he was the worst QB in the NFL. All Williams has to do is be league average and the Bears offense jumps to top 15, then you add Allen, Odunze, Everett and Swift (who replaced Foreman), and you easily have a top 10 offense. With our new punter, we won't be losing the field position battle anymore. The defense should be at least the same, if not slightly better with a full season of Sweat, no Jackson, and 2nd years from Dexter, Stevenson, and Pickens. All of that and almost everything would have to go wrong (Williams struggles, O-Line takes a step back, injuries, the defense doesn't cause turnovers, and Taylor turns into Gill 2.0. I just doubt all of that will go wrong at the same time. Essentially they just have to survive the first month while they get their timing down in game speed. Once that occurs, I think they are going to go on a run. At this point 8 or fewer wins and I would be disappointed. 9 is sort of the even ground for me, and double digits is sort of where I expect them to be.

Nowadays it is so hard to determine if "coaching matters". These guys are professionals, can the Head Coach, who is just overseeing the entire operation, actually making a huge impact? I don't think so. 20 years ago, for sure. Now, not so much. Hard Knocks is going to be really telling. If he is boring as hell and his speeches sound dumb, then you will have your answer.

Thanks, Email sent.

What's funny is I keep thinking that Caleb may have a different problem, too many guys are open, lol.

The Bears play a football game in two weeks. Obviously this game is going to be 90% backups and bottom of the roster guys, but we might see some rookies for a couple of plays. I can't believe we are only two weeks away. We made it!

Stinger, awesome, DM me his email address he would use for the league and I will send an invite directly from Yahoo and LeagueSafe. For the draft date and time, we can work around everyone's schedule, and basically have an entire week before the kickoff game to conduct the draft.

What I don't understand is, I thought a certified agent or the player were the only people a team can negotiate with? Like Poles can't call up Carl Williams and discuss contract terminology. Even if Williams' camp has lawyers, they aren't allowed to negotiate anything with the team. So how would that work? Did the team send an email to Caleb, who then forwards it to his team and then they send back a response that he forwards back to Poles?

Yeah, the mouths to feed is a great reason for him not to hit 1K. The Seattle trio had over 2,600 yards last year with Geno Smith throwing to them. So I would say there is an outside chance as Williams is a much better passer. Geno had 4282 in 2022, so it is definitely feasible in the Waldron offense. Also, with the extra game, it feels like a lot of people are stuck on the old milestones. 1K in 17 games is the same as 941 in 16 games. Just like with Williams passing numbers. 4200 passing yards is only 247 per game or the equivalent to 3,950 in 16 games. There were 10 4K passers in 2023, basically a 1/3 of the league hit that number, and 14 QBs beat Kramer's 3,838 Bears record. I would like to think Williams is near the bottom of that top 1/3. That should be over 4K. If Lawrence and Mayfield can throw for 4K, Williams can.

Done deal:

Yeah, I guess he technically can ask for one, but seems like that would be like Poles conceding all of his leverage to a rookie who has yet to take one official snap for the team. Also, it seems like a waste of time for Williams because if he is as good as advertised the Bears would be crazy to tag him instead of extending him to a 10-year deal.

Now Florio is saying that Williams didn't sign as they are haggling over the franchise tag after his 5th year. I don't know how that is possible if he practiced yesterday?

I guarantee Poles will be active at the trading deadline dangling the Bears 2nd round pick as the Panthers pick is going to be between 32-37. If the Bears can get a Montez Sweat level player for the Bears late 2nd rounder, that is a great deal for the Bears.

Dalton and Green are the only QB+WR duo to connect for 1K yards passing/receiving as rookies. I think Williams and Odunze have a great shot at that, especially with 17 games. Odunze would need to catch 4.33 balls a game with 13.5 yards per reception. Even with all the other options, it seems like that is very realistic, even for a rookie. Odunze will more than likely get CB2 or 3 on every play, which should be a mismatch in almost every game.

Skill x effort is a thing. That is why if you can find guys like that, you will be in good shape because at worst, they will play to the average of their projections. However, there is a good chance because of their character, that they will exceed their projections. I have a feeling this entire draft is going to hit, and they will hit sooner than later. Even a guy like Booker. I could see him as a starter in Year 2, same with Amegadjie.

Pretty funny to think the Bears had Vildor starting a few years ago, what a train wreck that was. Now we are discussing CB4/5 and S3. Good times.

Bears going 17-0, Super Bowl victory over Houston 34-17. No other team was able to sign two top 10 picks before the start of OTAs, amazing work by Poles and Co!

lol, I doubt he would trade within the conference. I heard Denver as a possible landing spot.

If Aiyuk is out in SF, that really hurts their WR Corps as Deebo would be their WR1 with 892 receiving yards last year. The next best was Jennings with 265 yards and rookie Pearsall. I know they have Kittle and McCaffrey for receptions, but as a WR Corps, no Aiyuk really knocks their roster down.

Yeah, I think they are going to see how Bates/Shelton look, but they will have space to add someone, but I doubt they can afford 2x additions. So I assume it would be C or Edge, not both.

Yeah at the end of the day, that made a ton of sense considering Hard Knocks.

Yeah, I am reading that a lot now. People close to the facility said Hard Knocks crews were there, so this makes a lot of sense to get this on tape.