adam

Unfortunately those guys are vested vets and were released (contracts terminated) not waived. They are FAs and exempt from the waiver wire. They can sign with whoever they want. Was Sheldon Rankins cut/released? I didn't see that.

This held serve pretty much, they went with Lewis over Bell and Walker. Thomas, Jones, ESB, Velus all made it. Patrick, Carter, and Kramer too.

I like him too, he seemed to be miscast in previous teams.

All the good teams operate that way, and also get rid of players before they decline, sometimes earlier than expected. Bears waive Bell, so it seems that last front 7 spot is up to Lewis (DE5) or Walker (LB6) or a waiver acquisition.

I feel like there are 4-5 fluid positions left. 1. DE5/DT5/LB6 - Lewis/Bell/Walker (keep 1), the Bears will only have 15 in the front 7, so that will either be 5 DE, 5 DT, or 6 LB. Special Teams will probably play a role, which means Walker at LB may have the edge over the other two. 2. S4 - AJ Thomas - I feel like this position is interchangeable as long as the guy is a core STer. 3. CB6 - Jaylon Jones - Another one of those main ST slots 4. WR6 - Velus/ESB - the Bears may go with a more proven punt returner like Trent Taylor (89 punt returns, 0 fumbles), which would replace Velus, or if there is an actual upgrade at WR, may replace ESB. 5. OL9 - Patrick/Carter/Feeney/Kramer (depending on injuries and other veteran acquisitions, they could keep all 4 if Jenkins goes on IR), but the bottom of this group could be switched out on the waiver wire.

Ebner and Collins waived. Ebner was expected with the acquisition of Homer.

If we are looking for a vet Safety, Eric Rowe was released, a former 2nd round pick:

Oh yeah, he gone for sure. If they release him and Gipson, they save $5.4M on the cap, and Feeney was just over $1M cap hit, so they will still have $4.4M added to the cap

Feeney seems like the OL9 acquisition. Now let's see if there is movement in DE/DT/LB, CB, S, or even WR.

Fair enough, but even last year he was 2nd on the team in ST tackles. I am good with giving young guys a shot.

My alma mater, I am Class of 92'. He seems to have replaced Leatherwood as OL9.

DHC waived by BAL. I wonder if the Bears are interested for S4, instead of AJ Thomas. The Special Teams unit would be really solid with DHC and Dylan Cole anchoring it. Thoughts?

So it looks like the 53-man is going to come down to who OL9 is (Kramer right now), whether they are going to run with 5 DEs, 5 DTs, or 6 LBs, can only have 15 from those 3 groups. If they roll with 6x LBs, the last DL spot will be either Lewis (Edge) or Bell (DT). If they roll with 5 LBs, they can have a 5 DTs and 5 DEs, but Special Teams would be thin. Lastly, CB6 is Jaylon Jones and S4 is AJ Thomas. Those are the 4 fluid positions, OL9, DE5/DT5/LB6, CB6, and S4. So technically 1 spot on offense and 3 on defense. I really don't see very much other movement unless ESB or Velus are cut for a better WR6. Obviously injuries will play a huge role in all of this. However, at the end of the day the guys and slots I listed above will have less than 1% impact on the team's overall performance.

Andrew Brown and Bravvion Roy are gone, both DTs, so they seem content on possibly only the top 4. Daurice Fountain waived, hopefully he stays on the PS. D'Anthony Jones flashed, hopefully he slides over as well. Nsimba Webster was an earlier than expected cut, looks better for Velus with Pettis on IR. I thought Ojemudia played well, but I guess they wanted CB6 to be more ST, which is Jaylon Jones.

My assumption is they met multiple criteria: they weren't even close to making the roster (ie even Peterman ahead of Walker) and they were vets that they wanted to give a chance to get picked up by another team before the market is flooded with low end players.

Has their ever been a Practice Squad player that was so good that they developed into a solid starter anywhere across the league? Like how often does that happen? I know UDFAs work out sometimes, but actual PS players that get promoted or acquired by another team and go on to be very solid? Also, just from looking at production based on starter and bench players, outside of injuries, most players after the top 22 or on offense and defense (bottom 5-6 guys on the 53-man) are just special teams filler players, that never really make an impact on offense or defense. That leads me to believe that the Bears will only keep 4 Edge players, so it will come down to only 2 of Robinson, Green, and Lewis, assuming Gipson is already gone.

This dude threw for 159 TDs and 16,958 yards in college. Regardless of the school and competition, that is a TON of live reps. No wonder he looks so comfortable in the pocket. Fields has all the tools needed to be a franchise QB, he just needs the live reps. The one thing I notice about Fields, and maybe I am wrong, but it almost looks like he tries to be too calm in the pocket, almost like a forced calmness that slows him down too much. It seems deliberate, like he doesn't care about the rush barreling down on him. It doesn't seem to be slow recognition, but more like slow execution. Trust your eyes and let it rip. Am I crazy? Also, I am totally fine with Bagent as the backup. If Fields gets hurt, the season is more than likely over anyway, so why not develop another QB just in case Fields becomes injury prone or never develops into a consistent passer?

OK thanks, we still need a few more payments and keepers.

I'm glad Poles is not hanging onto players just because. Walker and Leatherwood both have dead money. So guys like Gipson and Vildor are easily gone too. Velus fits this mold too.

Awesome, send us some play by plays!

Yeah I see that as well. The get off needs to be instinctual.

Is "iron sharps iron" the new "collaborate"?

I just think the bar is too low for us. We are so accustomed to bad QB play that we are celebrating 3K passing yards. If Justin plays 16 of the 17 games, is it really a stretch to think he can't pass for 225 yds per game (3600 for season)?

The more I look into this, the more I believe Fields is going to easily throw for more than 3500 yards. We are just so tainted by the last two years that we can't see past those. Trubisky averaged 208 yds/g for the Bears. Even in just a 16 game season, he averaged 3328 yds per season. That includes his rookie year where they barely let him pass. Trubisky threw for 3223 yds in 2018 (in 14 games), that was 230 Y/G, which would be 3910 for 17 games. So who did Mitch have to throw to? These were his top 7 targets (ARob, Gabriel, Cohen, Burton, Miller, Howard, and Josh Bellamy)! The leader in receiving yardage was ARob with 754! I forgot how bad that offense was because the defense was so good. Then in 2019, he threw for 3138, in 15 games, that's 3553 in 17 games. His top 7 were: (ARob, Cohen, Miller, Gabriel, Monty, Wims, and Burton). Just compare that to the projected Moore, Mooney, Claypool, Kmet, Tonyan, Herbert, Foreman. Very few guys from those teams would even make this roster, ARob would be WR4, Cohen would be RB3, and Burton would be TE3, but those 3 are it. If Fields can't throw for 3K or more, he is just not it. I believe he will but if he doesn't they will have to move on from him because there are zero excuses when you compare the offenses from the Mitch era.

At this point, the core of the team is set. At most they will churn the bottom 2-3 slots of the roster. Rarely do any of these new additions matter unless there is a surprise cut, injury, or trade.