adam

With Rodgers leaving the Division and handing the franchise over to Jordan Love, it feels like the division is up for grabs. Detroit is a decent but needed to win 2 meaningless games to finish 9-8. They still have Goff at QB and with his cap hit over $30M again, they didn't get much better. They do have some decent picks from the Stafford trade, but for free agency, it seems like they are just replacing their losses and not really upgrading there. I figure they will be in the 7-9 win range again. In Minnesota, they are basically just replacing their free agent losses, and don't have many draft picks. Right now they only have 5 picks, no 2nd rounder, and only 2 picks inside the top 100. So if anything they are going into 2023 slightly worse than they were in 2022. They were one of the weakest 13 win teams in NFL history and I think they will struggle to win 10 again. Green Bay is going to come down to how Love plays. Rodgers, when playing at his peak was arguably one of the best QBs of all time. I don't think Love is that, but he might end up as an average to above average starter. However, for GB, that would be a drop off at the most important position in the game. They had 8 wins with Rodgers and they are sort of cap restricted due to Rodgers this year, so with Love and the same team, they will be hard pressed to match those 8 wins again next year. They look like they are trending for 6-7 wins. This feels like every team is going to be within 1-2 wins of each other all season long and end up with a 10-win division winner with the other 3 teams with 7-9 wins.

is a DE, not a DT. He never played any 1st down DT, only passing downs moving a DE inside for pure pass rush. Good catch, cut and paste error.

The concern for any WR past 3 is they will have to play STs.

The Bears got 6 receptions total out of Griffin and Wesco last year. I have a feeling that Tonyan will get a lot more than that, even as TE2.

ESB is WR4 or WR5, I don't know how much of an impact guys like that have on the overall outcome of a game. A typical WR4 averages 1 catch per game. Even in the low-volume Bears passing offense from 2022, ESB still had 21 receptions with a 15.4 average. That is good enough for a WR4 or 5. I just went off speculation, but RT is still a need. The Bears technically have 3 guys that can play Center in Patrick, Whitehair, and Kramer; and Patrick and Whitehair can also play guard, so there is still some juggling to do.

Here is a few guys I would look into for the Bears: Ngakoue, DE Fleming, RT Ford, DT Gaines, DT Robinson, DT Ya-Sin, CB Griffin, CB

Based on last year's 53-man composition and using all the current players under contract. Here is what I came up with for positions, holes, needs, etc. Blue is a 53-man roster spot, red is a 53-man roster spot that could use an upgrade. Bold is new player. White is non-53 man roster, likely Practice Squad. I see 13 possible upgrades with 1 to 2 starters in need of an upgrade, CB and probably RT. After that the biggest needs are on the D-Line and actually LB corps after the top 3. By quantity, the Bears could upgrade 4 DL slots, 3 LB slots, 2 CB slots, 1 OL spot, 1 WR spot, 1 S spot, and 1 TE/FB slot. For the O-Line, the biggest need is deciding on what to do with the RT. If you keep Jones and Whitehair in place, plug Patrick back into C, add Davis to RG, it would seem like sliding Jenkins out to RT is the only option. Since that is undecided, I considered RT a need. However, outside of that, the rest of the offense is basically done. So it would be prudent if they addressed CB and RT before the draft, then they could go BPA to replace and upgrade by bumping current starters into backup rotational slots. In the draft, they need to go DL, CB, and OL to upgrade those starter spots with rookies, preferably a top DT and DE, CB, and OT.

running the ball for sure, Monty was a better blocker and pass catcher. Herbert needs to hit Mooney's JUGS machine 2x a day for 1000 catches.

With all the needs, especially in the trenches, I can't see going for gadget guys until at least the 5th. Being the shortest player ever at the combine scares me. Sproles was 5'6" but 190 lbs, Boston Scott is 5'6" but over 200 lbs. Vaughn is mid-170s.

The Bears still have the most cap space and probably $15-18M more to spend.

Down to: 1. DE - Ngakoue, Fowler, Green? 2. DT - (after signing Billings still need one more) - Ford, Robinson, Ioannidis, Gaines? 3. RT - (Borom is not it) - Isaiah Wynn, Donovan Smith, George Fant? 4. CB - (Vildor feels like the weakest link) - Rock Ya-Sin? 5. LB - (big drop off after top 3 LBs) - a lot of option for vet min deals here

The bold guys are the 53-man roster slots where the Bears can easily upgrade whether that is starter, rotational, or sub. They won't upgrade them all, but with 10 picks and several FA signings left, at least 6 draft picks with some additional FA and UDFA signings will push some of the bold guys off the roster or to the PS. For LT, it is probably Jones-Borom right now.

Thanks, I will need to get into the weeds a little more on exact position needs. Right now I just did position groups as I don't know exactly where everyone will lineup. However, RT looks like a upgrade need regardless of who they put there right now based off the current roster (Leatherwood, Borom, etc) with Reiff gone.

Yeah, so initially I went with actual roster losses (Monty, Evans, Blackson, Smith, etc) as holes. So technically at RT, the Bears don't have a hole, they just need an upgrade there. I just listed the need as OL right now, but it can definitely be RT. For Center, they have Patrick, Kramer, and Whitehair as options. With the addition of Davis, a true Guard, and Jenkins, I think they will go with the "best-5" in training camp with guys competing at multiple positions.

Moore, Foreman, and Walker all ex-Panthers. Should make for an easier transition for all of them. Trade updates: So Pick#1 for Pick #9, #61, 2024 1st, 2025 2nd, DJ Moore, D'onta Foreman, and PJ Walker?

So technically 3 "holes" left on the 53-man roster, 2x DL (1x DE, 1x DT), and 1 LB. Not bad for 4 days in. Poles can still also upgrade a few positions before the draft, OL, DL, LB and CB most notably.

Hmmmm 2022 Rushing Stats: Montgomery 201-801 yds, 4.0 YPC, 5 TD Foreman 203-914 yds, 4.5 YPC, 5 TD Tonyan an upgrade over any of the Bears backup TEs last year. Foreman a huge upgrade over Evans.

Foreman fills RB void.

TE hole filled with Tonyan.

Evans? I was just saying from a roster perspective, those are the actual holes and where is looks like upgrades are needed (bold).

There is the vet TE (Getsy special):

The difference right now with Herbert vs Monty is production and usage. Monty has a lot of tread on his tires after 4 years and didn't produce: There are 26 RBs from 2019 until 2022 with at least 500 carries and 2000 yards rushing. of those 26th, Monty was tied for dead last in YPC at 3.9 with Najee Harris. He is also 1 of 9 RBs with over 1000 touches since 2019 (high wear and tear). Looking up these stats, I can't get over how much Joe Mixon's cumulative stats look just like Monty's over the last 4 years even though the individual seasons look very different. Here are their 4 year totals: Mixon - 51 GS, 1057 touches, 899 rush att, 3584 rush yds, 4.0 YPC, 28 TD, 158 Rec, 1180 rec yds, 9 TD Monty - 51 GS, 1070 touches, 915 rush att, 3609 rush yds, 3.9 YPC, 26 TD, 155 Rec, 1240 rec yds, 4 TD I can tell you this, there is no way Cincy is keeping Mixon beyond his current contract, and I would not be surprised if they cut him after 2023 when his dead money is minimal.

I don't know if people realize how good DJ Moore is. Since his rookie year (2018), there have been 11 WRs with a total of 300 receptions and 5000 yds, with Moore being one of them. However, if you sort those 11 by Yards Per Reception, Moore is 2nd only to Mike Evans. Tyreek Hill is 3rd. Here is the list sorted by Y/R, now think about the other WRs and the QBs they had over that span and what Moore had to deal with in Carolina. He is also the youngest of this group. 1. Evans 2. Moore 3. Hill 4. Cooper 5. Lockett 6. Adams 7. Diggs 8. Godwin 9. Hopkins 10. Kupp 11. Allen

Offense (25) QB (2): Justin Fields, PJ Walker RB (4): Khalil Herbert, D'onta Foreman, Travis Homer, Trestan Ebner FB (1): Khari Blasingame WR (6): DJ Moore, Chase Claypool, Darnell Mooney, Velus Jones Jr., Equanimeous St. Brown, Nsimba Webster TE (3): Cole Kmet, Robert Tonyan, Chase Allen OL (9): Braxton Jones, Nate Davis, Larry Borom, Cody Whitehair, Lucas Patrick, Teven Jenkins, Doug Kramer, Dieter Eiselen, Alex Leatherwood/Ja'Tyre Carter Defense DL (9): Trevis Gipson, DeMarcus Walker, Justin Jones, Dominique Robinson, Andrew Billings, Rasheem Green, Andrew Brown, Jalyn Holmes, DL8 LB (6): Tremaine Edmunds, TJ Edwards, Jack Sanborn, Dylan Cole, Sterling Weatherford, Terrell Lewis S (4): Eddie Jackson, Jaquan Brisker, Elijah Hicks, A.J. Thomas CB (6): Jaylon Johnson, Kyler Gordon, Jaylon Jones, Kindle Vildor, Josh Blackwell, Michael Ojemudia Specialist K: Cairo Santos P: Trenton Gill LS: Patrick Scales Holes (1): DL Upgrades (12): WRx1, TEx1, OLx3, DLx2, LBx2, S, CBx3 My guess is they won't want to go into the draft with actual holes in the 53-man roster, so I suspect that they will look to sign a few more FAs to fill those holes. Then they have to figure out how many upgrades they can afford to get between the remainder of FA, the draft, UDFAs, and late FA. Thoughts?

Siemian released, Walker is QB2, they basically swapped Siemian's cap hit with Walker's.